


Veela Inheritance Problems

by Sakya



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bonding, Humor, M/M, Mpreg, Romance, Sexual Content, Slash sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2007-08-09
Updated: 2008-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-30 10:51:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 65,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10161530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sakya/pseuds/Sakya
Summary: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right?NOT COMPLETE





	1. Chapter 01

**Author's Note:**

> Note from SeparatriX, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [HP Fandom](http://fanlore.org/wiki/HP_Fandom_\(archive\)), which was closed for health and financial reasons. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [HP Fandom collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hpfandom/profile).

**Title:** Veela Inheritance Problems.  
 **Author:** Sakya  
 **Summary:** The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  
 **Rating:** Oh, my! I’m horrible at this one… but I’d have to go with NC-17.  
 **Pairing(s):** Harry/Draco  
 **Feedback:** desired, craved and very welcome.  
 **Characters:** Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Lucius and Narcissa, Ron, Hermione, Blaise Zabini and a ton more…  
 **Betas:** The Great Sarryn was here first and The Wonderful Rose took over after a while. I love them both dearly.  
 **Author’s notes:** It started as a one shot, I soon realized I would have to expand to a few chapters and somehow it got out of my hands. I was sure this would be over in five or six chapters - tops, it shows how much I control my muse. It will be slow but eventually we will see the end of this one.

**IMPORTANT**

**ALSO, AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT** , this fic will be **SLASH,** might contain **M-PREG** and some **VIOLENCE.** Make sure it is what you are looking for before you start to read.

**IMPORTANT**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, not mine and not profitable… for me, that is. I’ve heard rumors that J. K. Rowling is doing terribly well, but she writes the originals, maybe it has something to do with that… Oh! And also, everything (but the misguided idea that originated this fic) belongs to her.

\--------

**Chapter 01**

“It’s just not fair, mate.” said Ron for what seemed to be the hundredth time that afternoon wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

“I know, Ron, I know.” answered Harry as he had done all the other times as well. Really, he knew all too well, but trust Snape to come up with a detention on a day off, and it was really not their fault! Nobody had told them... well, him - Ron had known all along what was going on, being pureblood and all that, but had forgotten to share with his muggle raised friend. Harry made a mental note to hit Ron before the day was over.

If you were perfectly honest about it, it was kind of ironic actually. It had all happened yesterday…

It was the last class of the day and emotions were running extra high. A lot of parents were coming to school, pureblood parents, and their children were staying with them instead of in the dorms. On the next day, there would be this big party on the gardens… well, part of the gardens. A strange fence had been built around a large area of the grounds.

It was made of lilac fabric tied to fancy poles. The fabric was stretched and tied at the top, the middle and the bottom of the pole, along with flowers and ribbons. It all looked very girly in the Gryffindors’ opinion, and the color had been a surprise since it was mainly a Slytherin event.

Inside, if you looked from the windows of the school, you could see a few tents spread around as far apart from each other as they could be. Each was in a small clearing and the rest of the space was taken up by a section of the Forbidden Forest. How you would get to the tents was anybody’s guess. And finally, a few days before the party, a spell had been cast over the whole area that made it impossible to be seen from the outside.

Hermione, like always, had all the explanations.

“Honestly, don’t you people read?” she said more out of habit than anything, but was thrilled to have everybody’s attention for a change. “It’s the first matching party of the year.”

“…”

Hermione sighed, looking at the blank faces around her; a few of the pureblood kids had a slight blush though.

“The pureblood families all get together… actually, the purebloods with magical creature ancestry…”

“What?”

“Way back when… it was considered a symbol of status to have at least one magical creature in the family, like Veela, vampires… you know, the ones that can interact in society, werewolves not being one of them - they are human, except for the three nights out of the month when they have absolutely no control over themselves. Anyway, that custom fell out of use, but the bloodlines are still around and that inheritance is very powerful. Thus, every spring the pureblood families with the purest descent-lines get together and let nature take over, so to speak. This particular party is for Veela descendants only.”

“They have a… ‘mating’ party? Do they all mate together… like… together?” Harry asked with wide eyes.

“NO!” it was the answer from almost all the pureblood kids at once.

“Honestly, Harry. Can you picture any of the Slytherins… and their parents, for that matter, going at it like animals?” asked Hermione in her best I-am-more-mature-than-you voice. “They have these parties and all of the ‘eligible’ purebloods are invited; that is why we have people coming from all over Europe. They all have tea, or something, together. Then, at a certain point, the… well… the ones who can get pregnant…”

“The girls, you mean,” Seamus interjected.

“Merlin,” Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes.

“Male magical creatures can become pregnant,” said Ron, going as red as his hair.

“No way!”

“Wow!”

“Gross!”

“My uncle had a baby,” said a small voice in the back.

“Yeah, well, as I was saying: once the… future mothers start to… well, they smell different and once they do, they are taken to the separate tents and the… well, future fathers, I suppose, have to wait for a while before going after them. They move through the designated area using their sense of smell and track down the one who will be the best match for them. If you are the first one to arrive at the tent, you can mark whoever is inside as yours and then you are engaged. If more than one… ‘father’ arrives at the same time, they fight and the winner takes the prize.”

“Hermione, why do you keep hesitating when you say ‘mother’ and ‘father’? That is not the way the books describe them, is it?” asked one of the fourth year girls.

“No, the books call them ‘dominant’ and ‘submissive’… but I thought that would be kind of embarrassing, a few of us might get invited…”

“Ew, one of us might have to… mate with a Slytherin?”

“I wouldn’t mind mating with that French girl, Nicole” said Seamus with a dreamy face.

“Wait, how come Fleur is not here?” asked Ron.

“She is probably already engaged or married. She is a few years older than us,” Hermione responded with a serious look on her face as she considered the facts.

“Oh, Merlin!” exclaimed Lavender with an evil smile on her face. “Does that mean that Pansy Parkinson will finally achieve her life long dream and became the future Mrs. Malfoy officially?”

Most of the girls started to laugh while the boys shuddered at the thought of having to touch the pug-faced Slytherin.

“I very much doubt Malfoy will choose Parkinson,” said Hermione with a knowing smile.

“Why?” asked Lavender.

“Well, there are two main factors a dominant uses to choose: power and purity. Not blood purity, mind you, in this gathering blood purity is a given. They look for body purity. The less touched you are, the purer you are. And, well, Parkinson is not the strongest witch I know by a long shot and she is quite the slut, if the rumors are anything to go by. The stronger the mate, the stronger the offspring; and purity is a matter of pride, so I just don’t see her as Malfoy’s chosen. He will want to improve his family not ruin it. My bet? He will go for the most powerful mate available even if they never met before.”

“And he will be able to tell that just by the way she smells?”

“Oh, yes. And not only him, but his parents and all the others as well. It is a very obvious thing”

“But…” said Harry, “I thought the Slytherin all had arranged marriages?”

“They do; this is part of the arrangement, like a group arrangement. And this event is only the first step; after the couple forms, their parents will get together and work out the details of the official union on a more personal basis.”

They talked about it some more before they all had to be someplace else. Harry and Ron had Quidditch practice and hurried outside, while Hermione went to the library, and that was when it all went wrong.

Harry and Ron took two steps outside and ran into Malfoy and Goyle, the latter had immediately snapped at them. One thing led to another and less then a minute later Snape found them entangled on the ground, punches flying everywhere. The Slytherins were sent to the dungeons and the Gryffindors were given detention, to be served on the next day at the Forbidden Forest…

“So, let me get this straight: they started a fight, we got landed in detention collecting potions ingredients in a dangerous place, and they get to attend a party to celebrate the fact that the most obnoxious purebloods we know are not even pure humans?” demanded Harry, while searching for the plants Snape wanted for his potions.

“In a nutshell, yes,” answered Ron uncomfortably, which Harry noticed.

“What?”

“Is a big deal to get invited… for a wizard I mean. The Weasleys used to be invited, but I think our magical creature blood got too thin.”

“Oh.” Harry was at a loss and looked for anything he could say to cheer his friend up. “Too bad you won’t get a chance to become engaged to Parkinson then.”

“What? Ew, Harry, please don’t say things like that. I’m trying to keep my sanity here.” They laughed. The awkward moment passed, and they went back to work.

“So, you want to be part veela and be invited to the party?”

“Merlin, no. I just said it is a big deal, a status kind of thing, you know?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“But it would also mean I could never get together with Hermione…” Ron said. Harry’s eyes went wide. Ron had never admitted to having any feelings for Hermione before. “Do you think she would go on a date with me if I asked?”

“Oh, Ron, she has been waiting for it the whole year,” Harry laughed. Ron just smiled and let the subject drop. They continued to work in silence.

By now they had been working for hours, and the day was unusually hot for this early in the year. They both had had to remove their robes and shirts ages ago and were still sweating like mad. The fact that they had to climb trees to collect a few of the ingredients and move a fallen tree trunk didn’t help either.

They were so concentrated on their work that they never noticed a few forms moving through the trees and slowly approaching them.

\---------

A few minutes earlier, Narcissa Malfoy was smiling at her son. He was almost an adult now, and before the day was over he would be engaged, hopefully. It could always take more than one of these parties… or more than a year. She always thanked her good stars that Lucius took two years to pick a mate. She knew she wouldn’t be happy with anybody else, and Lucius had told her the same thing over and over. It still amused her how disappointed her sister Bellatrix had been, when he didn’t go into the maze the year she had been there. But Lucius had already made his mind, even before his first year at the gathering, so it was only a matter of waiting for her… and not finding a stronger candidate, but Narcissa carefully avoided that thought.

She looked at Draco again and sighed. He didn’t have a chosen one already, unlike his father. It would become a matter of choosing the best one available here, and she was not pleased with this lot. None of them smelled powerful enough or pure enough… some of them were actually quite pitiful.

“Not a good year, not a good year at all. Maybe I can convince Draco to wait a year or two… no shame in that. Or we could still try our good fortune and go to France; the Veela community is larger there. Maybe we could find a more suitable partner…” Her thoughts were interrupted by a faint odor.

Narcissa moved closer to the entrance of the fence. A sub, a very powerful one, was outside. Why was this one not invited? She could smell the sub perfectly now. It was not a pure Veela; it was someone with Veela blood… a very strong someone with Veela blood, very strong and very pure. A perfect mate.

She turned around to call Lucius and Draco - they had to know about this! - And noticed that a few others had become aware of the smell as well. She would have to act fast, not much time left.

She hurried to Lucius’ side and whispered in his ear:

“Darling, get Draco and meet me at the entrance. I think you should know something.”

Lucius excused himself from the conversation he was having and led Draco back to the entrance to meet Narcissa. However, before he actually got to her, he could smell it: a sweet scent, absolutely pure and very powerful. It smelled like flowers, fruits, wood, rain and magic - a lot of magic - and it was coming from the Forbidden Forest.

“My mate is in the forest,” Draco exclaimed, his whole body going tense with anticipation.

“No, Draco, you’re wrong! MY mate is in the forest; you had better hold you tongue,” Blaise Zabini declared, before running strait into the forest. He was followed closely by Draco and four other young men.

“Oh, my! What happened?” inquired Dumbledore, who was sitting at one of the tables and holding a cup of tea and talking to an elderly lady he had known for over 70 years.

“There is someone at the forest. Very strong and very pure. How come this person was not invited to the gathering?” demanded Glory Zabini with a frown.

“My dear, I assure you that all pureblood students with Veela ancestry were invited, like the ministry required,” Albus assured her.

“In that case, who is there?” asked Mrs. Parkinson. “Certainly this person won’t be allowed to participate. All eligible mates must be inside the delimited area.”

“That is a minor detail, dear.” Narcissa smiled. (Like I would let Draco be tied to the likes of you daughter, even if there was no other option.) “If you insist, I suggest we find this person before our sons do and bring him or her here, so we can get to know a bit more about this mysterious mate before a bond is settled.”

“Yes,” Dumbledore agreed, “that would be for the best, but I’m afraid we must hurry or the boys will take matters in to their own hands.”

All the grownups hurried to the Forbidden Forest. They all knew that, for a mate that strong and in a non-controlled environment such as the forest, the fight for the said mate would take a nasty turn and more than one young man would get seriously hurt, or even killed.


	2. Chapter 01

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 01.

**Chapter 02**

“Wow,” Ron said, reaching out to hold on to something. They had been working on the fallen tree trunk, when Ron had tried to get up too fast for his own good and became dizzy.

“Are you all right, mate?” Harry asked as he grabbed Ron’s shoulder.

“Just a second, I’ll be fine” said Ron, holding Harry’s arm to regain his balance. Harry smiled and turned to say something to Ron, when all of the sudden a blur of movement came their way. They fell to the ground.

Harry rolled away and got to his feet as fast as he could, while pulling his wand out of its holster. He turned to see Draco Malfoy kneeling over Ron, who had his eyes closed and his head turned to the side.

“Ron!”

Malfoy’s head snapped up, and he looked at Harry. His eyes were completely silver.

“Harry, don’t move.” Ron’s voice sounded almost calm. “He won’t hurt me. I’m not the one he wants.”

“What? He is pinning you to the ground, Ron.”

“He is holding me away from you, Harry.”

“What are you talking about?” A low growl caught Harry’s attention. He slowly turned his head towards the sound only to find a blond teen he had never seen before standing not ten feet away, his eyes almost like Malfoy’s, only a bit more blue. “Ron, what is going on?”

Ron was still playing dead under Malfoy, but his eyes were frantically scanning the area. He could see at least three other figures that Harry had not seen yet. They had completely surrounded Harry. Not good.

“Uh, Harry, remember the smell thing? How Veela chose their partners? Well, I think you are ‘it’, mate.”

“What?” Harry asked, spinning around towards Ron. That made the growls grow louder.

“Harry, listen carefully: No sudden moves,” said Ron in a very calm voice, but he added quickly when he saw Harry start to move his way, probably to free him from Malfoy, “and DO NOT try to help me.”

“Ron, you are not making sense, mate.” Harry was trying to remain calm, but without much success. “And why aren’t they speaking?”

“They are too far gone to speak. They can smell you; I noticed earlier that you smelled better, but you are too much like a brother to bother me. I guess they feel differently. They will come down from it in a few days… or when you accept a mate.”

“Not helping, Ron.”

“Well,” Ron continued very calmly and very slowly, so the other teens wouldn’t see him as a threat, “I think they want to mate with you… calm down, no sudden moves. Think of it like a chess game: when you move, they move. If you run, they chase. It’s quite simple, really.”

“And how do we get out of this one?” Harry could not believe he was trying to have a calm conversation when an obviously dangerous creature (Malfoy) was standing over his best friend. But nobody was attacking yet, so it seemed to be working and it was giving him time to think about his next move.

“You can accept a mate…” But, by the look on Harry’s face, Ron could tell that that wouldn’t be happening any time soon if he could help. “Or you could leave me here…”

“No way.”

“They don’t want me; I don’t matter to them, so don’t worry. The only reason I’m on the ground is because I was touching you when they arrived. I need you to listen, ok?”

“Ok.”

“If you don’t want to mate, you have to get away from them and do it fast.”

Harry looked around carefully, considering his options. He could see that he was surrounded by seven of them, whatever they were--not good odds in any fight, and the fact that they all seemed a bit… animalistic didn’t help either.

A movement to his right attracted his attention; one of the boys had decided that this whole thing was taking too long and had decided to act, lunging himself at Harry. All at once, hell broke loose.

Harry dove to the ground and felt his attacker fly straight over him. The others took this as a sign to make their move as well. Zabini dove after Harry and grabbed hold of his ankle. This made Harry scream and turn in order to kick Zabini’s hand away, but he was beaten to it by Malfoy, who started to beat the living daylights out of his housemate. Fights broke out all around, with every teen who managed to get a hold of Harry being beaten by another who was trying to grab a hold as well.

“ENOUGH!” a powerful voice shouted through the forest making everybody hold still.

Spinning around, Harry could see a large number of grown ups approaching with their wands drawn. Albus Dumbledore was leading the group, and Harry managed to calm down a bit, even with the sight of Lucius Malfoy holding out his wand and making his way towards them.

Ron quickly got off of the ground, collecting his clothes on the way and hastily putting his shirt on, and made his way behind Dumbledore. Harry felt even more naked and decided that Ron’s course of action was the best one at the moment, but, as soon as he took a step, he heard the others around him growl in warning.

“Harry, don’t,” said Ron. “Stay right there, mate.”

“I believe Mr. Weasley is right, Harry,” said Dumbledore. “We need to consider things carefully right now.”

“The combat has already started,” said Lucius Malfoy. “There is nothing to be done, except wait until we know who the winner is. Perhaps we could bring a tent here?”

Harry’s eyes went wide. A tent, a tent for mating, mating with one of these boys… in front of all these people?

“Oh, no, we couldn’t,” said Harry. “I want out. Ron said I could run, sounds like a lovely plan to me.”

“And do what after this… well, this hasty retreat?” asked one of the other parents.

“I can hide until this ‘engagement season’, or whatever you call it, is over.”

“Unacceptable,” said another woman with heavy accent. “He hides until we go away, and then one of the Hogwarts students goes and mates with him. They have an unfair advantage since they live the whole year at the same school. No, unacceptable. We have to settle the situation now.”

Murmurs of agreement were heard from all the parents.

“I’m afraid they are right, Harry,” said Dumbledore. “None of the dominants will choose another submissive, while you are still available”

“What if I don’t want to mate?”

“You can run,” suggested Lucius Malfoy, with a smirk on his face, “but whoever catches you has the right to mate with you.”

It took Harry exactly half a second to decide what to do.

“ _Accio firebolt_!” Harry yelled. “They will have to catch me first,” he said, mounting his broom and flying away as fast as he could. He could hear the others summoning their brooms as well.

( _Great, they play mute while stalking me in the woods, but, as soon as I cast a spell to get away, they all remember how to talk._ )

Glancing behind, he could see at least five other brooms in the air. Apparently, not all of them had managed to get off the ground. Now it was only a question of where to hide from the remaining five.

Harry had an idea and immediately looked at the school to try and guess, from the outside, where the Room of Requirement might possibly be. He knew he was cutting it close. He flew in and out of the Forbidden Forest, making sharp turns and flying below the top of the trees so no one could see him from above. When he knew for a fact they had lost his trail, he made his way back to the school.

He managed to get to the correct wall and prayed the spell would work from the outside as well. He thought hard about getting an entrance to the school and flew past the wall three times. Luckily enough, a window appeared out of nowhere and he flew inside.

He landed in a large room that was completely empty, nothing but stone floor and walls and a wooden door. Thanking his lucky stars, Harry hurried to the door only to see it disappear before his very eyes.

“You didn’t think it would be so easy, did you?” sounded a voice behind him. Harry spun around. Sure enough there was Draco Malfoy, holding his broom and leaning against the wall where the large window used to be.

“Let me out, Malfoy.” Harry tried to sound intimidating, but he could tell he was failing miserably.

“Umm… let me think: I outsmarted you, got you locked in a room alone with me, and have the right to mate with you according to every wizard law that I know… should I let my prize go? I think not. I very much like the fact that we are alone in here.” Malfoy walked very slowly towards Harry. His eyes were still completely silver, his hair was wind blown, and he had an aura of power and danger around him. Unconsciously, Harry started to back up.

“Malfoy, this is wrong and you know it. You can’t force me,” Harry said, walking backwards. He could see the room changing around him. He could feel a thick rug beneath his feet, and now there were candles illuminating the windowless room. “I don’t want to mate, Malfoy.”

Malfoy was still smirking and moving forward, following Harry across the room. His eyes roamed Harry’s body, lingering on his bare chest.

Harry took one more step backwards and felt something behind his knees. He looked back and started to panic; there was a large four posted bed behind him, and Draco was still moving his way.

Harry raised his wand and pointed at Draco.

“ _Stupe_ \--”

Draco threw himself against Harry and tumbled the two of them onto the bed before Harry could finish the spell. The move knocked Harry’s wand out of his hand and effectively pinned him to the mattress.

“Ouch, Malfoy, get off me!” Harry resisted with all the strength he could muster, trying to push the larger boy off him.

“Now, Potter…” Malfoy chuckled and came closer whispering in his ear. “Harry, is that really what you want? Are you sure?”

Harry shivered when he felt the blow of hot air in his ear. Malfoy’s voice sounded so close… he forced himself to concentrate on the fight. He did NOT want to be there; he did NOT want to be touched by Malfoy; he did NOT wanted to feel Malfoy’s tongue touching the shell of his ear, his teeth biting his earlobe softly, the slow, hot, wet trail of kisses down his neck, the pressure of Malfoy’s hips against his, Malfoy’s thigh finding its away between his, the pressure on his groin, Malfoy’s hands exploring his bare chest, touching his nipples, the trail of kisses and bites going back up his neck, along his jaw, a tongue caressing his lower lip, begging for entrance.

Harry couldn’t hold back a moan as he opened his mouth to welcome Malfoy.

“You are not sure, not completely sure,” said Malfoy, while undulating on top of Harry, making him moan and move his hips to the same rhythm.

“That is it, Harry, show me how much you want this. Show me how much you want me to touch your body,” encouraged Malfoy.

“Merlin, please, Malfoy, stop.”

“No, don’t say stop, my beauty,” said Malfoy slipping his hand inside Harry’s pants and wrapping his fingers around his erection. “Say more. Ask me for more. Tell me you want it harder, faster; tell me how much you want me to please you, to make you cum.”

“Ahhh!” Harry was loosing it; he had felt from the minute Malfoy had touched him that his body was not responding the way it was suppose to. Malfoy was in charge of his body now. It no longer obeyed Harry; it simply did everything Malfoy commanded it to do. “Malfoy, please…”

“Please, what, my beauty? Tell me what you want.”

“No, please, let go.” Harry’s brain was not helping either: it kept pointing out that, even while he was begging Malfoy to stop, he was not actually pushing him away.

“Of course, my beauty, I’ll stop if that is what you really want. Is it?”

“Yes… Oh, Merlin!... Malfoy, please, stop.” Harry was panting with need and couldn’t hold back a whimper when Malfoy did stop and raised his head a few inches away from Harry.

Draco knew Harry was acting out of habit when he begged him to stop; the veela attraction was way too powerful to be ignored, but that was a habit he wanted to break right way. His mate couldn’t go on asking him to stop. It was annoying. He smirked; he knew just how to put an end to it.

“I’ll make a deal with you.” His hands were still traveling on Harry’s body and making him shiver, distracting him and keeping him from thinking logically.

“W…what deal?” asked Harry, gasping for air.

“Stop fighting me for five minutes--no fighting, no resisting, no ‘Malfoy’, call me Draco—and, if after five minutes you still want me to stop, I will and I won’t let any of the others get anywhere near you either.”

Harry considered this for a moment. Now that Malfoy had move away all, he wanted was for him to go back to the kissing. Five more minutes of kissing would be good and, after that, Malfoy would keep the others away. Yes, kissing was good, more kissing.

“Ok,” was Harry answer.

“Ok?” Draco arched an eyebrow. “What is ok?”

“I won’t fight you… I’ll kiss you… touch you…please, Draco.” Harry’s hand found its way into Draco’s hair and pulled him closer; this time, Harry was the one starting the kiss, not even noticing when Draco wandlessly put out most of the candles before pulling him into a tighter embrace.


	3. Chapter 03

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 01.

**Chapter 03**

The adults slowly made their way back to the fenced area. The two young men who were unable to accio brooms ran ahead, trying to locate their airborne future mate.

“Well, that was most unexpected,” said Mrs. Zabini.

“Who was that boy?” asked the woman with the strong accent.

“That, my dear, was Harry Potter,” said Narcissa Malfoy, with a smirk much like her husband’s as she sat at one of the tables while being served tea by one of the house-elves.

“Harry Potter is a submissive veela?” queried Mr. Ivanoff whose son didn’t manage to summon a broom. “I demand this whole thing to start over. We were not informed of this and to accio a broom is highly irregular. All the suitors should have the same chance.”

“They did. I seem to recall all of them surrounding Mr. Potter in the forest--a valid setting according to the laws--even before he knew what was going on, like it used to be in the old days. He had no previous notice and yet manages to escape by his own means, no outside help--as it is permitted by the laws--and now the chase has moved to a new terrain of HIS choice. It’s perfectly regular.” Lucius said calmly.

“But…”

“I’m afraid Mr. Malfoy is correct,” said Mr. Zabini, who was sitting by Lucius side. “Although not invited, Mr. Potter is a valid participant of the gathering; we all felt it. Whichever family he ends up with will be strengthened by his blood.” Nobody noticed the glance exchanged by Zabini and Malfoy.

“All the more reason to bring him back here and start the whole thing again.”

“I don’t believe that would be possible,” said Dumbledore, walking in with Ron at his side. “None of the young gentlemen currently involved in the chase will agree to an interruption. Their instincts are quite demanding at the moment.”

“But this completely ruins the day for all the other submissives; I mean how will anyone mate with anybody else before Potter returns with a mate?” asked Mrs. Parkinson.

“My dear Mrs. Parkinson, you do have a point. I suggest we consider this day over and proceed to tea. The gathering will continue tomorrow, when, hopefully, this unexpected situation will be resolved.”

The parents knew there was nothing more they could do—legally--so they accepted the headmaster’s suggestion and settled down for tea. All the submissives were escorted to a special dorm prepared for them, since they could not interact with the rest until they were mated.

Narcissa sat with some of the parents, doing her job as a hostess perfectly. Even if it was not her house, this was still her old school and her country, so it was obviously her obligation. Besides, it was always nice to remind everyone else who the leading family of their society was. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that Lucius and Augustus Zabini were still talking. It was obvious from their body language that a power-game was being played between the two men.

“So, Augustus, you must be proud; Blaise turned out quite nicely.”

“So did Draco, my friend. A fine young man you have there.”

“Yes, very strong blood lines will do that. It would be a shame to lose it now.”

“True, my friend, absolutely true.”

The two men continued to talk, knowing full well what wasn’t said. A variation of that same conversation had been staged at least once per generation between their families for almost three generations now. Neither family had produced a submissive in a very long time, only dominants who would not mate with each other, and, being two of the most prominent wizards families, an alliance between them was most desirable.

Since their sons were now taking mates of their own, perhaps an arrangement could be achieved in order to… facilitate a future match of their grandchildren. Such deals were not strictly prohibited by the laws because, even though pureblood families were proud to acknowledge and even celebrate their magical inheritance, they also made VERY sure it was perfectly clear they were not animals governed by instinct.

Narcissa and Glory smiled at each other, while exchanging pleasantries and pretending they did not know what was being discussed by their husbands. A match between the families would consolidate both at the pinnacle of the Wizarding World, and now there was an extra bonus, something that was already tipping the scales. The cards were already on the table as far as this generation was concerned--two dominant boys and no submissive, a real pity--but the next one. Oh! The next one would come with a child from one of their families and with Potter’s power to boot. Not a prize to overlook.

There was never a doubt, of course, that the real competition was taking place between Draco and Blaise; they were by far the strongest ones this year.

One by one the other young men returned, looking a bit uncomfortable and taking as a personal offense the loss of their intended mate. They only ones missing were Draco and Blaise, until sunset… when Blaise returned.

Narcissa and Lucius shared a discreet smile.

\--------

The room was almost completely dark, with only a few candles lit here and there giving the room an intimate milieu; red roses were beautifully arranged around the room and a table covered with fruits, cheese, bread and wine was set in a corner near an almost extinguished fireplace. Lying on top of the soft mattress covered with deep crimson bed sheets, two young men barely notice those facts.

Harry was floating; there was no other explanation for it. His head was spinning and his skin was burning everywhere it came in contact with Draco. He was lying naked under Draco, who was making sure to kiss and caress every inch of his mate’s body. Harry’s trousers had been thrown to the floor two minutes into Draco’s Time, which had been… less than three minutes ago, he was sure. There was no way the whole five minutes had gone by so fast.

Draco ran his hand over Harry’s thigh. Harry gasped for air as Draco’s hand found its way between his thighs, caressing them all the way up until he touched Harry’s balls. He fondled them lightly before moving his fingers back reaching for…

Harry’s eyes snapped open.

“Wait, stop,” he said, jerking back and almost knocking Draco off the bed.

“Shhh, Harry, It’s all right,” said Draco as he tried to calm the other boy down. ' _Too soon, damn it, I moved too soon. He has to calm down, there is no way in hell I’m letting him go_ '

“No, it’s not all right, Draco. We hate each other. We do,” Harry said, more to convince himself than anything else. He didn’t understand why his body was behaving the way it was, but it had to stop.

Harry kept trying to move away from Draco, struggling against him.

' _Fight him off! I have to fight him off; he is not strong enough to hold me down. I won’t submit; he is not strong enough. Unworthy_ ' Harry didn’t stop to think where the last bit came from, but on some basic level he knew that only someone strong enough to force him to submit would be capable of protecting him.

Draco could feel his blood begin to run a bit faster through his veins. The submissive was challenging him, demanding that he prove he was strong enough to protect him from the other dominants and any other threat that might present itself. This submissive was strong and powerful; only a stronger and more powerful dominant would be accepted by this one. He would have to prove himself worthy of fathering the children the submissive under him would provide.

Harry managed to push Draco to the other side of the bed and tried to crawl away. He almost made it out of the bed before Draco fell on top of him, grabbing his hair and pulling his head to have better accesses to his neck, and bit him hard while trying to push his legs apart.

Harry yelled and felt his body going limp for a second. It took every shred of strength he had to roll himself over, knocking Draco off him again, and throw himself off the bed.

They faced each other, breathing hard and bodies ready to spring to action. Harry was kneeling on the floor, never losing eye contact with Draco, who was still on the bed, looking pretty much like a cat preparing to jump.

“You’re mine, Harry.”

“In your dreams, Malfoy.”

“You will be using a different tone of voice and calling me Draco before I’m done with you.”

“It will never happen.”

Draco smirked and launched himself at Harry. They rolled on the floor, biting and scratching, until Harry managed to disentangle himself and run. He put a large couch between him and Draco. They stared at each other again. Draco had a cut lip, scratches on his face and torso; a large bruise was showing at his right shoulder and another one at his ribs.

Harry’s neck was bloodied from the bite Draco had given him earlier; he had scratches on his back, arms and legs, and bruises all over.

They were both out of breath and showing no intention of yielding to the other’s wishes. They circled the couch a few times, changing directions and speed. They were testing their opponent as they prepared for the next round.

The thought of leaving never once crossed Harry’s mind. He wanted to put some distance between himself and Draco, but not enough to lose the blond from his sight. He would not give up, and for some reason he felt it was very important that Draco prove himself capable of beating Harry in a fight.

Draco was feeling very good; he had lasted this long in a vicious fight to prove his worth to his chosen mate. Yes, he had chosen well. This one in front of him was a proud and strong mate, unconquered before, and Draco would have to be equally strong and proud to stake his claim over him. He, Draco Malfoy, had found a worthy mate and would do whatever it was necessary to claim and keep him. Draco jumped on top of the couch and launched a new attack.

Harry was not expecting that move and his reaction was a fraction of second too late. He threw himself to the side, landing on the rug in front of the couch, and was preparing to roll under and escape to the other side of the room; unfortunately, Draco was on top of him before he could implement the plan and bit him again, this time not letting go.

Harry stopped fighting immediately. The pain in his neck and the weight of Draco on him made his body lose its strength. He felt Draco holding his wrists while driving a knee between Harry’s legs, spreading them apart. He felt Draco’s erection rubbing against his ass and knew he had lost the fight.

“Draco, please,” Harry moaned.

Draco noticed Harry’s body relaxing under him and couldn’t hold back a smile. ' _Mine._ '

He let go of Harry’s wrists, moving one hand to Harry’s hair and using the other to support his own weight.

“Relax, Harry,” he said, licking the bite mark on Harry’s neck. “Everything is all right, just relax.”

Harry moaned as he felt Draco licking his neck before moving to place a kiss on his back. Draco continued to kiss and lick Harry’s back and softly bite his skin, making him relax more and more as Draco kept moving down his mate’s body.

Harry gasped for air when he felt Draco place small kisses on his butt cheeks--only to hold his breath as he felt Draco’s hands spread his cheeks apart and felt a hot, wet tongue found its way down into his crevice. Harry’s brain was sending mixed signals, as if it could not decide whether to stop all together or work at the speed of light. It decided to stop when Draco’s tongue circled his puckered entrance.

Harry writhed and moaned as Draco’s tongue became more and more familiar with his entrance. He couldn’t help but move his hips, pushing himself against Draco’s face. He was vaguely aware of Draco’s chuckles as he begged for more. Harry whimpered when Draco stopped what he was doing to cast a spell.

' _What the hell is he doing? Why did he stop? Does he have that big of a death wish? What… oh! Merlin, What is he doing? It that his finger?_ '

Draco was in heaven: he had his mate lying beneath him, moaning, begging, writhing for him. He had his fingers inside his mate, stretching him nice and slowly, and in a minute he would be taking the final step on the claiming of his mate. He had given the bite already, and now all the other dominants would know that this one had been claimed. His scent would be all over his mate, would be part of him--for ever. That thought proved to be too much for Draco to resist. In a single move he replaced his fingers with his erection, preparation be dammed.

Harry threw his head back as he felt Draco sliding in to him. ' _Too much, too much! I’m going to explode! Merlin, I need him; I need more of him!'_

“Mine!”

“Yours, oh! Draco! Yours, give more, please!” Neither of them was capable of a coherent thought anymore as instincts took over, and they moved against each other faster and faster until the whole world shattered in a grand explosion that left them nearly unconscious on the floor.

Draco noticed that Harry had fallen asleep immediately and smiled as he noticed that his scent was different now. Draco wrapped his arms around the smaller body of his mate and held him close as he himself fell asleep in front of the fireplace.


	4. Chapter 04

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Disclaimer** : See chapter 01.

**Chapter 04**

The guests for the Hogwarts Spring Party, as the gathering was called, had dined together and were now retiring to their bedrooms. Many of the parents who had dominant children were still pretty upset with how the day had turned out. A small group remained at the small dining hall prepared for the occasion, since the parents would not appreciate sitting with the whole student body.

Lucius and Augustus sat at the table, each nursing a glass of brandy in their hands. They had already come to an understanding as far as a wedding between their grandchildren could be planned considering so many variables, especially since there were no grandchildren as of yet. And there was always the possibility of Blaise ending up being mated to an unsuitable person.

Well, the future of their families was as taken care of as it was possible to be. It was time to talk about their future.

“ _He_ won’t be pleased,” muttered Augustus.

“No, He won’t, but to lose such a mate…” pondered Lucius.

“Yes, that would have been a shame. Family comes first.” Augustus raised his glass in a toast.

“Family comes first.” Lucius raised his glass as well, answering to the old pureblood toast. It was true; their first obligation was to their families and the maintenance of the wizarding traditions.

Lucius and Augustus set their empty glasses on the table and looked at each other. They knew what had to be done and had waited until everyone else had retired for the night to take the next step. They noticed that they were the last ones in the room, along with their wives and Dumbledore, the official host who had just bid the Russian couple good night. It was time.

The two men got up and walked over to Dumbledore.

Narcissa and Glory noticed their husbands’ serious faces and lingered behind, saying good-bye to each other as the Zabinis were leaving for France within a week. No truly acceptable submissive had come to this first party, which was understandable with the threat of war and all, but that did present a problem for suitable matches. Maybe at one of the gatherings in France, or even Romania, the young Zabini would find his mate before the year was out.

It usually only took one season for a dominant to make his claim; there were cases like hers, of course, and every so often a couple of families would set an agreement (like the Malfoys and the Zabinis had been trying for years now) to mate their children rather than leaving it to chance, but the usual course of action was to attend a gathering, or all 12 of the ones held in a year, if that was what it took, and go through the process of natural selection.

The process, Narcissa smiled as she remembered what it was like the year she had participated, having Lucius come to her bruised from the confrontation with the other dominants and then fighting him herself… Narcissa shivered as she remembered the rush it was to be in front of her mate, to know he was the one, to let the senses take over and lose all restraint, to be taken in the most complete demonstration of dominance, possession and passion. Narcissa felt her blood run faster and she hurried to her husbands side as she notice the conversation with Dumbledore was about to end, it was time they relived their mating.

Lucius and Augustus had approached the headmaster a few minutes earlier with smiles on their faces; they knew what had to be done and had no remorse about it.

“Ah! Headmaster, a very nice gathering you manage to arrange here,” started Zabini.

“Why gentlemen, is always a pleasure to assist in such a joyous occasion.”

“No, please. It is our pleasure to be at Hogwarts of all places and in such nice company,” complimented Lucius.

“Indeed.” offered Zabini. “Even though some friends did expect us to take a walk with them tomorrow night.”

“Yes, but I don’t feel like going all the way to Whitehaven anymore.” added Malfoy.

“I see,” said the Headmaster with his trademark twinkle in his eyes. “That would be most unpleasant, I’m sure. Well, I’m sure your friend will understand your absence since your presence here is mandatory.”

“I’m sure,” “Of course” the two men agreed immediately. “Family comes first,” they added together and walked out of the room with their wives.

“Indeed,” muttered Dumbledore stroking his beard as he watched the retreating couples.

Dumbledore ran into Snape in the hallway to his office. ' _Serverus is really getting the hang of being where he is needed when he is needed. Very nice quality for a headmaster. I wonder if he has noticed that he is being trained already? Hogwarts can be quite subtle with her hints when she wants to be._

“Good evening, Serverus, may I have a word?”

“Good evening, Headmaster. What’s on your mind?”

“I just had the most exciting conversation with Messieurs Malfoy and Zabini. Apparently, they are quite happy to be here for the time being, especially with the weather being so unstable. They said, in so many words, that is better to be inside and in such nice company than to spend the night walking around in places like Whitehaven, although they were expected to pay a visit with some friends there tomorrow night.”

“What? Are you saying they freely gave you information about an attack? Why would they do such a thing? It must be a trap.”

“No, my boy, I believe not. Young Mr. Malfoy is claiming Harry as his mate even as we speak. So, naturally, his father is making sure his family stays together at the only acceptable place for a Malfoy: the winner’s side.”

“If this is true, we will be not only getting a good amount of valuable information but also we will be able to stop the attack and shake some of his suspicion off me. The Dark Lord knows there is a spy in his ranks, and I was not informed of this attack, therefore, I can not report on it. This will lead him to believe the spy is someone else.”

“Yes, it will buy you some time. Come, Serverus, we must prepare to repel an attack,” called the headmaster as he made his way to his office.

\-------

In the submissives’ quarters, Pansy Parkinson was worried. She knew she was in trouble. Big trouble. Her parents did warn her about her duties to the family, but really who was still a virgin at seventeen? Well, Potter was apparently. The stupid, good for nothing Gryffindor.

She paced around the room considering her options. Damn. Nobody told her they would _all_ be able to smell her and she _had_ been discreet; none of her lovers would say a word about it… and she did bathe quite often. So what was the big deal? She had a few lovers, who cared? Besides her parents, all of their friends and Draco Malfoy. Damn, that was not fair.

Pansy ran her hand through her hair in desperation. All her dreams were falling apart before her eyes. She always knew she would be the next Mrs. Malfoy--no submissive came from a better family than hers. And now, thanks to Potter, she could not even be picked at all. Damn. How was she supposed to endure the shame of not being picked? And at a gathering that had more dominants than submissives! It was shameful enough for a sub not to be picked when their numbers were larger than the doms, but at a smaller number? It was the public acknowledgement of the fact that they would rather go single for another year than to marry her! Her, a Parkinson! How dare they?

Well, something has to change, something will change, and she was just the woman to do the job. It was also fortunate that she knew what job had to be done.

Pansy carefully made her way out of the dormitories--not too hard since the wards were set not to let any male pass but paid no attention to the females. And went in search of the one person she knew she could persuade to help her. Slowly, she made her way through the dark corridors.

\--------

At the Gryffindor Tower a small group of students were discussing over a dozen open books, all of them in the chapters dealing with Veela and Veela blood in wizarding society. Each person was contributing a bit to their research.

“Wow! It says here that they will actually beat each other up for a mate…”

“That is nothing; this one says that they will beat Harry up in order to prove that they can protect him…”

“What?”

“It’s not like that,” Hermione cut in before things got out of hand and the Gryffs decided to organize a search party to ‘rescue’ Harry from a fate worst than death. “If two or more doms chose the same sub…”

“Mione, SEVEN of then were running after Harry last time I checked,” offered Ron.

“Well, in that case, they will certainly fight over Harry, not with him.”

“So… they won’t hurt Harry, right?” a hopeful Colin Creevey asked from a corner.

“Well…” Hermione look at Ron for a mild way to put it.

Gallantly, Ron came to her rescue, proud that at least this one area, he knew more than Hermione, “You see, Colin, it’s a nature thing. The strongest suitor gets the most desirable mate.”

Colin looked at him clearly confused.

“Think of it as if we were in a Care of Magical Creatures lesson. The dominants chose their mate by scent; the more powerful mate will produce the more powerful offspring and will make their family stronger. You following so far?”

Colin nodded, a bit uncomfortable because of the comparison of his hero with an animal.

“When two or more dominants choose the same mate, they have to know who is the best suitor, and you can guess how that goes amongst Slytherins”--a few people chuckled at that remark--“they beat each other up and the winner gets the mate. Now, the mate is not convinced that is the best suitor for him, just because he won one fight. It doesn’t mean he is the best one available, just the best at the moment, so the submissive demands actual proof that his safety will be better under the care of that dominant than on his own. If the dominant defeats the submissive in a fight, he will prove that he is strong enough to protect the submissive and the family they will create together.”

“So one of them _will_ beat Harry up,” finished Colin, holding to the one detail that had been bothering him.

“Harry will demand it,” offered Hermione. “It’s in his blood not only to accept a mate, but also to make sure that his mate is capable of protecting him.”

“But how can it be in his blood?” demanded Seamus “It’s Harry! Harry is not part Veela. He didn’t change at all.”

“Neither did any of the others,” remarked Hermione. “We actually wouldn’t know who would be invited if the Slytherin weren’t flaunting it around the school. And, if I may remind you, Harry did change, or can’t any of you remember him hitting Malfoy before the beginning of this school year?”

“But that is just him reacting to six years of taunting,” said Lavender.

“Oh! That was him reacting all right, but looking at it now, I think is more like he was reacting to Draco’s scent more than anything else,” pondered Hermione.

“Yeah!” Ron suddenly realized something. “Malfoy has been acting differently around Harry too… Oh. My. Goodness! He was displaying.”

“He was what?”

“Displaying himself, common behavior for a suitor; he was trying to show Harry that he was the best choice… even if he didn’t realize what he was doing,” explained Hermione.

They pondered for a few seconds before the boys in the room reacted at the same time.

“Eeeewwww.”

Ron just smiled and looked at Hermione; by the way she was looking at him she had just realized he had been doing the same thing towards her. He felt his heart skip a bit when she smiled back.

\-------

Harry slowly drifted back to reality. He was warm and cozy, his bed had never felt better and he refused to acknowledge the fact that he was awaking as he lazily moved to get more comfortable and took just a peek to see if it was morning already, or if he had a little more time to doze. He was awake in the very next second.

It was not his room. It was not his bed. Where was he? He sat abruptly only to discover that his whole body could protest loud enough to make him lose contact with the physical world.

“Shh, Harry, calm down. You are bound to be very sore right now. It was a hell of a fight you put up last night. Here, let me call Madame Pomfrey. I’m sure she has everything ready for us.”

Harry turned his head towards the soft voice at his side and came face to face with a very bruised Draco Malfoy. A very bruised and naked Draco Malfoy as Harry could observe as the blond Slytherin got out of bed, wrapped himself in a blanket and made his way to the fireplace to call the medi-witch.

' _Draco Malfoy! Why is Draco Malfoy here? The bruises… fight… last night… oh! Merlin, what have I done?_ ' It was all Harry could think before the medi-witch stepped out of the fire carrying a silver tray with lots of potion vials on it.


	5. Chapter 05

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 01.

**Chapter 05**

Madame Pomfrey did a scan on Draco and muttered a few healing spells. Harry did notice that the bruises didn’t go away. She moved on to Harry, doing basically the same thing. Taking advantage of the fact that Draco moved away giving Harry and the mediwitch some privacy Harry found the courage to ask about it.

“Madame Pomfrey,” called Harry as she rummaged through her potions.

“Yes, dear?” She wasn’t fazed and started applying a salve solution to the scratches on his body.

“Why are the bruises still there?” Harry managed to ask while his face turned a bright shade of red, ' _Merlin, woman, I’m lying naked in a bed after I had wild monkey-sex with my enemy, could you at least blush?_.'

“Why Harry, I thought you knew.” She looked at him surprised.

“Huh? No, sorry.” Harry didn’t think it was possible to blush any harder than he was now. The mediwitch had removed the comforter that was covering him and was checking for any more injuries.

“They are honor marks, Harry,” Draco explained coming out of what was probably the bathroom. His eyes lingering on every visible inch of Harry’s skin.

“ _That door was definitely not there last night._ Honor marks?” asked Harry covering himself again as soon as Mme. Pomfrey moved back a little.

“They are the proof that you properly resisted my advances and I bested you in a physical dispute,” explained Draco handing him a pile of clothes. Harry noticed that Draco was now wearing a fancy gray outfit that reminded Harry of the type of clothes Lucius Malfoy liked to wear. “It would be highly inappropriate not to have them; everybody would think you surrendered too easily and an easy mate is not a worthy mate.”

Harry frowned; that meant that everybody would know they had had sex. How humiliating was that? Meanwhile, Madame Pomfrey had finished her visit and, with a last ‘take care, gentlemen’, she stepped out of the room through the fireplace, leaving Harry alone with Draco Malfoy in the room.

“You know, you really should get dressed. I believe we are being expected for breakfast,” Draco stated.

“Breakfast?” Harry’s eyes were wide in disbelief. “How am I going to sit through breakfast in front of everybody? They all know what happened!”

“Yes, they all know you are betrothed to me now. In a few months, you will be a Malfoy and they will all respect you and treat you in the best way possible. Nothing less is acceptable.”

“Betr… Oh! Merlin.” Harry felt dizzy. It was too much too soon. “No, wait, this is… no, I mean… We hate each other! We can’t… we didn’t…”

Draco sat on the bed and held Harry’s trembling body.

“Harry, shh. It’s ok, calm down. Everything will be alright.” Draco held Harry’s smaller body and kept talking in hushed tones, rubbing his hands in small circles on Harry’s back until he felt his mate relax.

“Listen to me,” said Draco running his fingers through Harry’s hair, “we have to get dressed now and meet everybody downstairs. Nobody will treat you disrespectfully; you did what your Veela inheritance demanded you do.”

“But I don’t have Veela blood!” yelled Harry.

“I beg to differ.” Draco smiled at him. “If you didn’t have Veela blood, I wouldn’t be here, and none of the other dominants would have gone into the forest to look for you.”

“But… how?”

“I don’t know, maybe we can ask somebody. Mother should know; she keeps a very accurate record of these things. We’ll ask her at breakfast.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Harry grudgingly admitted, getting out of bed wrapped in the bed sheets, “but I’m not happy with this mate thing, Malfoy. Make no mistake about it, I still think it’s a trick somehow and I’ll fight you every step of the way.” Taking the pile of clothes with him, Harry closed the bathroom door behind him.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Draco smirked, hearing the door lock, separating Harry from him.

\--------- 

They made their way to the small dining room where the families would be having breakfast by now. Normally, that part of the gathering would be the most informal one, since all the new couples would have been introduced to the group the day before, but the only couple that was formed had yet to make an appearance in public; therefore, they were all having breakfast together: parents at the center, dominants on one side of the room and submissives on the other side.

Harry could hear the soft, polite voices inside and took a deep breath. He was far from comfortable with the idea of entering that room, especially with the robes Draco had handed him. They were beautifully done, no question about that; they had obviously cost a small fortune. Very proper, very rich wizarding robes. It was the neckline that bothered him. It was in a boat neck style that left his neck and part of his shoulders uncovered for all to see, displaying Draco’s bites as well as a few bruises.

“Just stand beside me,” offered Draco as they got near the door. “We’ll go in, greet whoever is on the way, sit with my parents, have a nice conversation about nothing, like at most breakfasts, then we excuse ourselves and accompany my parents for some family time.”

“‘Family time’?”

“Yes. If your parents were here, now would be the time to discuss any details regarding our union. Since that won’t be possible, I presume Dumbledore will act as _in loco_ parent and represent your family.” Draco stopped at the doors to check Harry one last time and straighten his own robes.

“And why would I need that?”

“Because, that is the time when we arrange the financial details and it’s customary to have representatives from both families just to make sure everything is done fairly.” Harry raised an eyebrow at the formality of the whole thing.

“Right,” he said just as Draco opened the door and gestured for him to follow.

All the guests for the gathering were inside. Some of them had clearly finished breakfast already and they stood to greet the two teens as they entered. Well-wishes were offered and invitation for visits and tea extended. Draco made sure to greet everyone, introducing Harry to each person but not letting him shake hands with any of the dominants--only short nods were exchanged with those and Harry was very glad for it. The memories of the ambush in the forest yesterday were quite vivid in his mind.

Harry noticed a lot of looks towards the marks on his neck, but strangely enough no rude remarks were made. They looked at him… respectfully? Enviously? He really couldn’t tell and made a mental note to discuss it with Hermione later.

Lucius and Narcisa were sitting with Dumbledore at a large table at the back of the room with two empty chairs waiting for them. As Draco had warned him the conversation was kept light and pleasant. Harry’s head was spinning.

' _It’s a dream… ok, maybe it’s a nightmare. I’m sitting at the same table with the Malfoys and they are being civil! To me! It’s a trick. I know it; any moment now Malfoy sr. will jump up and curse me with something foul. I know it. I just know it._

Much to Harry’s surprise no curses came and he forced himself to eat and talk in a civil manner with the three Malfoys before him. After breakfast they all agreed to meet at Dumbledore’s office ‘to chat’. Dumbledore took Harry with him, while the Malfoys went to their rooms to ‘freshen up’.

“Harry, I must ask you if you understand what is going on. Do you?”

“Sort off, sir…” Harry looked at the headmaster and nodded. “Well, no really, sir. How do I get out of this one?”

“Harry, how do you feel about Mr. Draco Malfoy?” Dumbledore asked him seriously.

“I…” Harry blushed. “He is… I mean…”

“Do you understand that for all practical matters you are engaged to be married to Mr. Malfoy?”

Harry’s head snapped up. “Really? I mean he mentioned something about being betrothed, but it’s all happening so fast.”

“Yes, I know, but the fact remains that the two of you are engaged and I’m afraid it’s quite a serious thing. Although we never suspected, and quite frankly I don’t know where it comes from, you have Veela blood in you and yesterday, during the gathering you started to send out signals to the others who, like you, also have Veela blood. Now, you are what is called a submissive Veela. It doesn’t mean that you are weaker than anybody; it just means that you are capable of baring children, and your instincts will… well, did lead you to find a strong mate to create a family with you. One strong enough to convince you he will be able to take care and protect you and any children you may have.”

“Does it mean he will do my fighting for me from now on?” Harry asked confused. He couldn’t picture himself lying back and letting someone else do the fighting. “What about the prophecy?”

“No, my dear boy, no. This inheritance won’t change who you are or how you’ll behave from now on. It only adds to you; it doesn’t cripple you in any way.”

“…”

“If the occasion presents itself, Mr. Malfoy will fight at your side, protecting you to the best of his abilities, yes, but at your side, never in your place. He knows his mate is a fighter and he respects that.”

“Ok, and what happens now?” Harry indicated the bite marks on his neck. 

“Now the Malfoy will come here and we will discuss the details of your union: when the ceremony will occur, where the two of you will live, and the obligations of married life… that kind of thing. It’s important that you stay here, even if you have nothing to add.”

“Ok.” Harry nodded. He couldn’t prevent a small jump when someone knocked on the door. “Show time,” he muttered.

The door opened to let the Malfoys come in: Lucius with Narcissa holding on to his arm and Draco two steps behind. Dumbledore got up, gesturing Harry to do the same, and bowed to new arrivals.

“I bid you welcome and wish you a pleasant day.”

“Thank you, headmaster. It is an honor to be here,” Lucius said and the three of them bowed their heads. Harry felt like he was in a play with well rehearsed roles.

“Please, let’s all be seated,” Dumbledore urged them. Harry noticed a smaller chair by the headmaster’s and sat there. Lucius and Narcissa sat on a small couch in front of the headmaster and Draco sat on a chair similar to Harry’s by his parents.

“So, young Mister Malfoy, I believe congratulations are in order,” offered Dumbledore as they sat in his office. “It was quite a chase.”

“Thank you, headmaster. It was a difficult challenge, but it was also a worthy prize.” Draco nodded at the headmaster. Harry was ready to jump at his neck, but a firm grip from the headmaster kept him on his chair. Draco’s eyes sparkled at Harry’s reaction and he also seemed ready to jump out of the chair, but Narcissa managed to hold his hand and get his attention before he let instincts take over. Draco nodded at her and remained in his sit.

They exchanged a few more pleasantries before Harry noticed a subtle change in their attitude. Sure enough Lucius changed the conversation to a more serious topic.

“Well, Headmaster, I do believe we have a few details do discuss in regards to these two young men’s marriage.”

' _Oh. My. God,_ was the only thing that crossed Harry’s mind that moment.


	6. Chapter 06

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 01. I mean it, go take a look at it.

**Chapter 6**

Harry took his time in the shower that night. Merlin, he was glad the day was almost over; he had been completely over his head the whole day. To be completely honest, his only hope at the moment was that today would not be an example of what life as a Malfoy would entail.

Breakfast had been awkward, the conversation with Dumbledore and the Malfoys a trial on his temper, but it was nothing compared to the rest of the day.

He almost didn’t have time to say hello to Hermione and Ron (and confirm the DA meeting that night) before he was dragged outside to meet the other ‘veela’ families, where he felt like someone had put him on exhibit. More than one parent, and at least three dominants, had even leaned over him to check the bite mark on his neck. The Malfoys were glued to his side at the next instant, and he was never alone again for a single minute the whole afternoon.

It was sort of interesting, Harry had to admit, while taking mental notes to tell everything to Hermione afterwards. They were in an area with the parents and dominants--Draco made sure he was sitting as far away from the latter as possible--and at a certain point the gates to the area were the tents were set up were opened and the dominants entered. The gates closed behind them and the parents went on as if it was a tea party. Narcissa noticed the look on Harry’s face and started to explain a few things to him.

“You seem surprised with our traditions, Harry,” she mused.

“A bit, Mrs. Malfoy, I mean Draco is always behaving all cool and proper and last night…”

“Last night he wouldn’t take no for an answer?” She was smiling while drinking her tea.

“Mildly putting it, yes.”

“You see, Harry, we” she indicated the group around them, “do appreciate proper behavior and good manners, but in our veins runs powerful blood, veela blood, and along with power that blood gives us instincts, which we know better than to fight. When two descendants from veela blood marry, the blood gets stronger; therefore, the magic gets stronger. Did you know that there was never a squib in either the Black or the Malfoy family?”

Harry shook his head. He had had no idea.

“It’s true. That is why we… indulge our instincts at these gatherings. We put in the same place all eligible candidates to a good match and let them choose for themselves who will marry who; that is how we make sure our families and our magic remain strong. Of course, there are those who decide not to follow tradition, like your friends the Weasleys. No offense, dear, but they started to marry out of the veela community and that turned them into less desirable mates... and than there is you. You were a complete surprise and were only accepted because of how powerful you are.”

“Wow.” Harry was surprised with her honesty. “You don’t believe in presenting a shinier angle, do you, Mrs. Malfoy? Nobody was ever this forward with the fact that I’m only here because of how powerful I am. They always go around saying it is destiny or some other silly nonsense like that.”

Narcissa smiled and sat her cup on the table before answering Harry: “I have too much to lose if I lie to you, dear. Look around, Harry. Did you notice how everybody is still looking at you as if you were the first prize at the community fair? They shouldn’t do that, you know. You are mated now and they should respect that, but I know for a fact that, if any of them had half a chance, they would be here doing their best to present a shinier angle, as you say, only to convince you that their family would be better for you than the one you are in now. I know because that is what I would do. Don’t look so surprised, dear. The submissive group this year is extremely weak, and even if they weren’t, you are too powerful to be ignored. No better match will be made this year or the next ones. I assure you. And that makes you extremely desirable. Add to that the fact that you were pure and even now only one person has touched you, and you will see that you have no parallel. Your children will be very strong; any family would be fortunate to have you. That tends to make a few people reconsider what would or wouldn’t be appropriate.”

Harry was beginning to see some twisted logic in this thing. He noticed Draco in a group of men not far away from them.

“Am I married to Draco?”

“Not yet,” Narcissa explained. “It’s more like an engagement. Oh, you are married by veela standards, but we are not animals living in the wild, are we? There will be a ceremony after the end of the school year, so that your education doesn’t suffer and a few more people are able to witness your union; then you will be legally married. Of course, your role in society is already defined.”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, you are here, being treated like an equal by people that only yesterday didn’t even acknowledge your presence, and Draco is over there with his father and being treated like a grown man.”

“I won’t be a house wife,” Harry said darkly.

“Oh, dear, no,” Narcissa laughed, “nobody expects you to start wearing dresses and baking cakes! By all means, no. If anything, now you are a recognized and respected member of society and of the veela community. The fact that you are a submissive only means that you can bear children… of course, due to our veela traits, you would never carry the child of someone who would not be able to protect you as you go through that delicate stage in life; to be chosen by you is a sign of great strength and power. After all, Harry Potter is a powerful wizard and would not put his safety, as well as the safety of his children, in the hands of one less powerful than him.”

“Oh, I see, because Draco is the one ‘I chose’,” Harry said a bit sarcastically. Narcissa paid no mind; she knew they were in for a rough couple of … well, hopefully days, ideally weeks, but it would be more like months really. “It’s like I made a public announcement of his power?”

“Yes, that’s just about it, dear, and now that he is mated”--Narcissa smiled at him again--“and very well mated at that, he is seen as a grown up. He will be taking on more responsibilities, and the two of you will be expected to attend a few social functions. I believe he will let his hair grow as well…” Seeing Harry’s questioning look, Narcissa explained, “He is the head of the house, not the head of the family, but the head of the house the two of you will be forming after you graduate. The long hair is a tradition among the head of the house. You may chose to wear your hair as long as you want.”

“And I will have to bow my head and obey his every order. I get it.”

“No. As a matter of fact you won’t, the title is just for social functions. The inner structure of the family is a personal affair. I happen to know for a fact that Draco would hate a mindless little pet for him to order around; he loves a challenge AND a strong partner.”

' _Well, that is not half bad. I can live with that,_ ' Harry thought to himself, watching Draco talk to the other men. Draco certainly knew how to carry himself. Harry noticed Draco looking around and moving towards another table where the Zabinis were sitting. All three of them.

“Mrs. Malfoy, why is Blaise Zabini out here? Shouldn’t he be inside with the other dominants?”

“The Zabinis have decided that no match shall be settled here. I had come to the same decision, before yesterday of course.” Narcissa patted Harry’s hand.

“Of course,” Harry agreed half-heartedly, still a bit insecure as how to react. Was that a compliment? But Narcissa accepted his answer and continued.

“The Zabinis have decided to attend a few parties on the continent, but they are not in a hurry. Blaise can always wait another year or so, too much at stake now.”

“How come?” asked Harry. Narcissa looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Why is there too much at stake now? Wasn’t it like this before?”

“Well,” started Narcissa, measuring her words--no need to scary her beautiful son-in-law now--“The matching is always very important, but the Malfoys have a strong mate for this generation. A mate like you, Harry, doesn’t come by often and is viewed as a valuable asset to a family line. Your children will be very strong and the Malfoys were strong to begin with, so, naturally, the whole entire community will be waiting for your children’s engagement season. You were a surprise, but your children will be expected. I’m ready to bet you a new broom that the parents here are already calculating their chances of getting their grandchildren to marry your children.” Harry scoffed at the idea, but the look on Narcissa Malfoy’s face told him she was being very serious.

“They are planning on engagements with children that are not even born yet?”

“Of course. A well placed match may be the difference between power and social oblivion. Our first choice, however, are the Zabinis.”

“You’ve already chosen? Don’t I have any say in this? Don’t my children? What…”

“Harry!” Narcissa’s voice halted Harry’s tirade before it got out of control. “It is not set in stone. Both of our families have an old agreement that says that we’ll attempt a match between our children first and, if that doesn’t work, we are free to attend any gathering that we see fit. There has not been a match between the Malfoys and the Zabinis for three generations now. The last one was with a distant cousin of Lucius.”

“What if my child doesn’t fall in love with Zabini’s?”

“The deal is off, no doubt about it.” Narcissa smiled reassuringly. Of course, she neglected to mention that once their instincts took over, the children would have feelings for each other even if they had felt nothing before.

She pointed out a few interesting details to Harry and made sure he knew what was expected of him and when. All in all, he didn’t do too badly for his first time, especially considering his muggle upbringing. Yes, a good match indeed.

Draco was very proud of his mate. He could see Harry talking to Narcissa. A brief glance she exchanged with him had told him that Harry was doing all right and Narcissa was pleased. The only problem was the behavior of some of the other dominants. They had the nerve of checking the mark on Harry’s neck; if it wasn’t for Dumbledore standing at his side, he would have cursed a couple of them.

Draco noticed Harry getting up and going up to the fence. They were in a privileged position from which they had a lovely view of the school and the lake. Harry rested against one of the pillars--he looked bored. Draco excused himself and made his way to Harry. Ivanoff, the father of one of the dominants got there first.

“Mr. Potter. You don’t seem to be enjoying yourself,” Draco overheard the older man saying; intrigued, he went around a few tables, taking the long way towards Harry.

“Oh.” Harry was surprised by the deep voice sounding so near him; he turned around to see a large man he had never seen before. “I am fine. I’m just not used to these gatherings.”

“Oh, I see. You are more like me then: you like the action of sports in the great outdoors better than the soft music of the tea rooms. You are a creature of nature much like the Ivanoffs. You should come and visit my beloved country someday. I’m sure you would love it.” Harry was getting more and more uncomfortable as Mr. Ivanoff began to lean closer to him. The man was definitely invading his personal space now.

“We will be sure to do it, someday,” Draco said, putting his hand on Ivanoff’s shoulder and forcing the man to turn around. “We will take our children there on vacation. How would you like that, love?” Draco asked as he pulled Harry in to his arms possessively.

“Sure. It would be nice,” Harry answered, feeling glad for the ‘rescue’. The man was actually very strange, and Harry was glad to be able to get away from him.

The rest of the afternoon went along without any major problems. There seemed to be a Malfoy always within arm’s reach of Harry, which proved to be a bit annoying and ended up giving Harry a headache. He couldn’t be more glad the tea party was done and over with. He excused himself and ran to the Gryffindor tower to get ready for the DA meeting.

Harry ran along the hallway to the room of requirement. The DA was now an official club, with meetings once a week and with twice as many people as when they had started. As soon as Harry entered the room everybody stopped their conversations and turned to him.

“Ok,” Harry addressed them, “I know you are all curious about what is going on and there is no way I can get this out of the way, so let’s make it real brief and than we’ll practice. Yesterday I discovered, along with everybody else, that I have veela blood. Merlin knows how that happened, but it’s not important. Now, apparently, I got myself in a little trouble… again”--a lot of people laughed at that point--“and it seems that I got myself sort of engaged to Draco Malfoy.”

“Not ‘sort of’, Harry, ‘in fact’ engaged to be married. It’s a done deal,” Draco’s voice sounded around the room, calling everybody’s attention. Standing at the door, Draco and five other Slytherin were presenting a united front to the other students, who were looking at them with their mouths open. “What? This is the place to come if you want to learn how to fight against evil dark lords, isn’t it? We are here to learn. So, where do we sign up?”


	7. Chapter 07

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Chapter 07**

The whole room was quiet; nobody was sure of what would happen next. Harry blinked a few times unsure of what to do, he could see that the whole DA was tensing up as if they were preparing for a fight and Hermione was analyzing the Slytherin. Ron was the one who surprised him though; he was looking at Harry, waiting for his decision. Harry took a deep breath and moved to greet Draco at the door, but Ron held him in place muttering that ‘it wouldn’t be proper’ and to leave it to him and to everybody’s surprise, Ron with his wand firmly placed in his pocket was the first to move walking straight up to Draco’s group.

Now, on a normal day Ron wouldn’t mind the whole DA ganging up and beating the Slytherins into a bloody pulp, but the normal days were officially over now that Malfoy had laid his claim on Harry… and Harry accepted. Nope. No more happy pummeling days and as Harry was the closest thing to a family member without actually being one that he had, he knew exactly what he had to do. At least his parents would be proud of his manners, Ron thought bowing his head as he greeted them.

“Welcome to the DA. We are about to start, would you give us the pleasure of your company this evening?”

Harry and Hermione exchanged glances as the rest of the muggle borns in the DA gasped.

“Polyjuice?” mouthed Harry watching his friend.

“Etiquette... I think, either that or shock” muttered Hermione. Harry just raised an eyebrow and was about to say something else when the answer from the Slytherin group caught his attention.

“We are pleased to be here, may this be a joyous meeting,” Offered Nott also bowing his head and extending a basket full of colorful little packages. “The Malfoy family has sent you and yours this token of friendship.”

“The Weasley family, on behalf our son and brother, Harry Potter, head of the Potter family, is pleased with the visit and honored by your friendship. May our bond grow in happiness.” Answered Ron taking the basket and gesturing for the group to enter “Please make yourselves comfortable, we are about to begin.”

Nott bowed his head a bit and they all made their way to Harry who was still standing in the middle of the room a bit shocked with the whole scene. Ron formally handed Harry the basket.

“Thank you” was all that Harry could say feeling very out of place with the large bundle in his hands. ‘ _Oh, great, now I’ll need etiquette lessons to learn how to say thank you’_.

Ron once again saved the moment offering his hand to Draco. “Welcome to D.A., Malfoy. Perhaps we should start the meeting already?”

Draco took Ron’s hand without hesitation. Harry felt like he had been struck by lightning, he turned around to talk to Hermione and she was looking pretty much like him.

' _At least I know I’m not insane or something. Ron DID just shake hands with Draco Malfoy. Merlin, could this day became any more bizarre?_ '

It turned out it could.

All the pureblood members of the DA, and most of the half-bloods, recovered pretty quickly after the initial shock and accepted the Slytherins as if they had been since the very first meeting. They were still a bit awkward about trusting the snakes, but accepted their presence with question.

The muggle-borns took a little longer, but Hermione made a big scene of welcoming Malfoy in to the fold – and was treated politely by the Slytherin prince – what helped a bit, so the night went better than Harry could expect even though very little actual practice was done. The Slytherin were introduced to the rules of the D.A. and brought up to speed with the spells practiced so far.

The group then was divided in to pairs to train a bit so Harry could judge their strengths and weakness but whenever he tried to get near Draco, Ron and Nott would drop whatever they were doing to stand by them. Finally, Harry dragged Ron to a corner of the room.

“Ok. What is going on? I though you were ok with this mate thing between Malfoy and me. What’s changed?” demanded Harry.

“I am! I am very ok with this bonding. That is why I am chaperoning you.”

“You are what to whom?”

“Harry,” Ron explained as if he was talking to a child, “When did you ever see a pure blood behaving in a less than appropriate way? Potions classes and Quidditch matches excluded”

“Well, a certain hunting party at the forbidden forest comes to mind, but that is over, right?”

“Yes, that is completely over as far as you and Malfoy are concern. Now comes the second part of the bonding”

“Second part? What second part?” Harry asked beginning to have the feeling he was not going to like the answer, “we did it. You know… IT. What else is there to be done?”

“Well, it is traditional to honor the magical creature that contributed to the strength of your house, hence the gathering, but no pureblood likes to be reminded that they are not exactly pure, if you know what I mean.”

Harry snorted, ' _Yeah, after so many years picking on Hermione because of her parents. Serves him right not to be totally human._ '

“That is why there is a second part on the bonding. The wizard part.” Ron added and seeing the look on Harry’s face, he completed, “basically you have to be on your best behavior for a few weeks and then there is this big wedding party… unless you are with a child, then they simply make a grand wedding out of the whole thing and get done with it.”

Harry gulped “When will I know?”

“When will you know what?” asked Ron not quite understanding what Harry was so nervous about.

“When will I know if I am p… wait, I’m a male. I can’t get… Oh! Yeah, I forgot, I guess I can get pregnant… Oh! Gods, I can get pregnant… what if I’m pregnant?” Harry was working himself in to a panic when Ron decided to put him out of his misery.

“You are not pregnant. We would already know if you were” he offered calmly.

“How?”

“Mme. Pomfrey scanned you when she saw you this morning. It’s standard procedure at any gathering.” Ron said matter-of-factly “If you were with a child we would be dancing at your wedding right now.”

“Oh” Harry felt a bit better but it also reminded him of how much he didn’t know of his new situation. “So… What happens now?”

“Well, I sort of took over the chaperone role for the evening because it was an informal meeting amongst people our age and not an intentional meeting between you and Malfoy so he could court you, but you need an adult to take over from now on. It’s a very prestigious job to chaperone an heir and there is a lot of responsibilities involved” Ron hesitated a bit.

“There is more to it, isn’t it?” prompt Harry.

“Well, you are not supposed to be alone anymore, especially not alone with Malfoy, a chaperone makes sure of that and that you are properly behaved and dressed and all that stuff. Remember our third year, there was this one brunette in Ravenclaw who was always with an elderly lady around her, and that Chaser from Slytherin had this funny looking guy with him all the time?”

Harry strained his memory. That was the year Sirius was running around Hogwarts so he had other things in mind, but he vaguely remember those two. “Yes, I remember. What about them?”

“They were engaged. The gathering was in Ireland that year if memory serves but anyway, she didn’t get pregnant at the gathering and they had to be chaperoned for the rest of the school year”

“And why would I need that?”

“Well, while it is expected for young veelas to mate and get intimate right away, proper young wizards and witches wait until they are married. So purebloods tend to see the gatherings as engagement parties and take it from there. And since they want to prove they are better and purer than the rest of us common folks the rules are a bit more strict.”

“Tell me you’re joking” Harry begged.

“Sorry, mate.”

“It’s a nightmare” Harry signed.

Draco was still practicing with Nott when he noticed his mate talking to Weasley on the corner. His mate seemed distressed and he walked over to find out what that stupid redhead was going to get killed for, chaperone or not nobody distressed his mate. Nott was hot on his heels.

“What is going on here? Is there a problem Weasley?” Draco’s wand felt hot in his hands, his mate looked even more distressed up close.

“Malfoy,” Harry answered “I can’t do it. I don’t even know where to begin with all this tradition and proper manners stuff. There is no way. I can’t do it!”

Draco blinked a couple of times while his mate’s problem finally sank in. He wanted to put his arms around his mate and sooth his worries, but Nott wouldn’t allow it and held Draco’s arm preventing him from going to Harry.

“It will be alright, Potter. Mrs. Malfoy already arranged for a cousin of hers come to Hogwarts and teach you what you need.” Nott assured him, “If that is alright with you Weasley” he added immediately.

“It’s not for me to decide. I’m only chaperoning for the evening as Harry is yet to decide who his chaperone will be.”

“Am I the one who decides?” Harry was confused; it would appear the wizard word saw him as an unprepared teenager in one moment and a fully responsible adult in the other.

“As head of the Potter House is up to you to decide who will fulfill the role of chaperone for the family heir.” Explained Ron

“Which is also you.” Added Nott.

“I see,” said Harry deciding that the whole thing was way too insane to be understood and considered his options. “Is the chaperone always a member of the family?”

“Not always, you could always call a respected friend assuming this person is old enough and well versed in the traditions. It’s a full time job and a very demanding one but it’s a sign of great esteem to be invited to become ones chaperone.” Offered Draco, he already knew who Harry was going to nominate his chaperon and was resigned to his fate, later on he would talk to his mother and get her to convince Mrs. Weasley to take a backseat and let cousin Rebecca take over as a chaperone.

“Ok, then. When do you think your mother can be here, Ron?” Harry asked.

Ron beamed at his friend “Just you wait, mate, she will be here as soon as you invite her and be a total nightmare like a proper chaperone should be.”

Harry sighed “That was what I was afraid of.”

\-------

In no time, everybody was surprise to see how well they all got along and the Slytherin were now an official part of the D.A. and even making some suggestions as how they could improve their practice.

Draco suggested a ‘War Game’ to test not only the individual skills but also the ability to work in a team. The D.A. would be divided in small groups and they would have to go through a maze facing off not only whatever Hogwarts would throw at them but also the other teams. They were to use either the Room of Requirement or set a maze on the grounds with the permission of the headmaster.

The idea was eagerly accepted by everyone and they ended the meeting with the promise that Hermione would send them the rules over the week so they could prepare. They were so taken by the idea and so eager to discuss strategy that no one noticed Draco cornering Harry in the far end of the room.

Harry, who was checking some books didn’t notice Draco until a voice sounded very close to his ear making him jump in surprise.

“Pretty good job you are doing here, love” said Draco way too close to comfort.

“Malfoy, I though we were not supposed to be by ourselves anymore” Harry tried to back way but he was standing against the bookshelf already.

“Why are you calling me Malfoy again?” Draco smirked, he could see his mate’s blush deepen as he spoke.

“I… we… would not… I mean… Ron, Ron said we were not supposed to be alone and that you can not touch me again… He said it’s tradition.” Harry was smacking himself over the head mentally. Could he sound more like a blubbering idiot?

“But we are not alone right now, are we?” asked Draco moving even closer, “we are in a room full of people. Your chaperone is 20 feet way. This is totally right and proper. I am allowed to talk to my mate. Am I not?”

“I suppose…” Harry hesitated feeling confused, half of him wanted to agree with anything Draco said and the other half was reciting the correct way to perform an _expelliarmus_ followed very close by a _stupefy_ and get Malfoy away from him as fast as possible. When exactly did he start to accept his bonding thing anyway? Just yesterday he was very happy hating Malfoy with all his heart, thank you very much; he was even serving detention because of him. Then the said git and a bunch of his friends decided to re-enact part of his childhood and declared open season for Harry Hunting and then the fight and the… well, that with Dra.. Malfoy and a visit from the medi-witch and breakfast and the meeting with Dumbledore and the tea party and now Draco was kissing him again and when did he had time to think about the whole thing and… wait, KISSING?

Draco’s arms went around Harry’s smaller frame and held him closer and he deepened the kiss. His mate was melting in his arms just like he was supposed to when all of the suddenly he started to fight against the embrace.

“Malfoy, STOP!” Harry managed to get way long enough to protest and with that all the attention in the room was directed at them.

“What do you think you’re doing, Malfoy?” a very irate Ron was heard.

“Draco, unhand Mr. Potter at once.” Nott’s voice didn’t sound much better.

' _Damn. I’ll never hear the end of this one._ ' Draco could already see his mother telling this at family reunions, just like grandmother used to do telling all the stunts his own father had pulled while trying to see his mother before they were married, but then he took one look at the raven-haired beauty in front of him with big emerald green eyes and understood the smile on his father’s face when those stories were told.

That kiss was worth all the teasing.


	8. Chapter 08

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 01.

**Previous on Veela Inheritance Problems**

' _Damn. I’ll never hear the end of this one.'_ Draco could already see his mother telling this at family reunions, just like grandmother used to do with all the stunts his own father had pulled while trying to see his mother before they were married, but then he took one look at the raven-haired beauty in front of him with big emerald green eyes and understood the smile on his father’s face when those stories were told.

That kiss was worth all the teasing.

\------------

**Chapter 08**

The D.A. meeting was over soon after the kiss. It was already getting late and there was no way to regain order after that with everyone asking questions or just plain giggling, so Harry thought it would be better to just called a night and get the meeting over with.

Draco and Nott were the first ones to leave, formally saying their good nights and shaking hands with Ron, who held Harry’s arm when he tried to extend his hands to Nott and Malfoy as well. The Slytherin pretended not to notice that and Harry sighed again as he realized there would be more rules to learn about this whole engagement thing.

The rest of the D.A. members lingered a bit longer forming groups for the game and discussing strategy before they too started to leave for their dorms. An unspoken agreement between the Gryffindors had them all going back together with Ron and Hermione taking the lead followed by Harry and Seamus going over a few ideas for the up coming war game and idly making a list of who they would call for their teams if they could choose from the whole wizarding world and the rest of their dorm mates behind them. It was Neville who brought Harry back to reality.

“Harry, you are not planning on taking part on the game, are you?” asked a wide eyed Neville.

“Yes, I am. Why?” puzzled Harry.

“Um… Harry,” started Hermione, “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“She is right, mate.” Added Ron. Who promptly started to elaborate seeing Harry’s look of confusion. “Harry, how do you think Malfoy will react? Do you really believe he will go easy on anyone who tries to chase you through a maze? The bond is too new for him to be rational about it. He will perceive it as a challenge on his… well… his rights over you…”

“He has no rights over me! He doesn’t own me!” Harry snapped.

“You are his mate,” offered Hermione, “he fought for you and claimed you. He is the only one who has the right to start a family with you, Harry. That’s what Ron meant by his rights over you. You are not a possession, you are a family member.” She tried to word it in a way that Harry would accept better and knew that using the ‘family card’ would win Harry over. As it was she was right and Harry came down a bit.

“Oh, all right then.” He said only to remember what had started this whole discussion, “but we could explain to him that it is not a bonding thing. There is no reason why I shouldn’t be on the game.”

“Harry,” Ron started putting his arms around his friends shoulder, “think about it. It’s still mating season for the veela, he has just claimed you, all his instincts are running a mock AND he has to stay away from you until the wedding. How do you think he will react if he sees a bloke running after you through a maze and trying to physically overpower you?”

Bits and pieces of the previous night flashed in front of Harry’s eyes and the full meaning of Ron’s and Hermione’s words sank in.

“That’s right,” said Hermione seeing the look on Harry’s face, “That is what he will think the person chasing you is trying to do and, if he allows it, it will mean he is giving up his rights on you and that is something he simply won’t do. He will rip the poor sod into shreds and won’t even go to jail for it… the mating acts are protected by law and everybody knows a bit of violence is to be expected.”

“She is right, mate,” Ron patted him on the back, “sorry, but you are out of the game since I don’t fancy dying at the hands of an over zealous veela.”

“This just keeps getting better and better by the minute.” Harry snorted as they climbed through the portrait hole leading to the Gryffindor common room. “And what with the no hand shaking back at D.A.? I thought I was supposed to be all civil to them.”

“Oh, Merlin, I predict a fun night of dos and don’ts at the boys’ room. Good evening everyone.” Said Hermione going to the girls’ dorm barely hiding her amusement. Harry could be so naïve sometimes.

\---------

After a lot of explaining that left Harry’s head spinning and made him not so sure he understood everything, what he suspected could be attributed to the fact that all of his dorm mates were trying to give him tips of what was proper and what wasn’t – and some of those HAD to be jokes! He decided to called it quits and surrender to a higher power. Harry bolted out of the dorm and in to the common room.

“Harry! Where are you going, mate?” his friends all ran after him and watched as he threw some floo ponder in to the fireplace and called the Burrow, in a few moments the head of Arthur Weasley was greeting them over the fire.

“Hello boys. Is everything alright? Why are you calling at this time of the night?”

“Hello, Mr. Weasley, We are fine. It’s just that…” Harry hesitated not knowing how to break the news to the man he considered a member of his family.

“Oi, dad, remember how we told you the veela party was going to be at Hogwarts this year?” Ron cut in pushing Harry to fit in front of the fireplace with him. “Well… yes… you see, it turns out that Harry here is part veela, only no one knew and we all found out at the same time yesterday when all the dominants suddenly turned out in the forest where we were gathering potions ingredients and they started to run after Harry. He managed to call his broom and fly away but…”

“WHAT?” Mrs. Weasley voice was heard over her husband’s and his head disappeared from the fire only to be replaced with hers, “Harry, dear, are you alright? Did anyone hurt you? DON’T leave your dorm! Arthur and I will be there first thing in the morning to sort this whole thing and…”

“Actually, Mrs. Weasley, it’s kind of a done deal” Harry blushed.

“What do you mean a done deal, sweetie?”

“I’m… I mean… You see…” Harry looked at Ron begging for help.

“Draco Malfoy managed to claim him and now they are engaged. That is why we’re calling, Harry wants you, mom, to be his chaperone.” Ron blurted out in one breath. Now everything was out in the open and they would just have to answer the hysterical questions that were sure to shower upon them right after his outburst.

It took almost a minute.

“Care to run that by me again, Ron dear?” Molly Weasley asked sweetly trying very hard to keep her breath even. Behind her they could see a very wide eyed Arthur Weasley opening and closing his mouth without actually making any sounds.

Ron and Harry glanced at each other and braced themselves for a long floo conversation.

\---------

Next morning Harry was woken by Ron and rushed to the same room he had breakfast with the Malfoys the previous morning. Harry noticed that Ron had his best robes on and looked a bit uncomfortable but stayed at his side the whole time even if he made sure that Harry sat by Draco – at a respectful distance, and did his best to be polite while talking to Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. The Malfoys on their part were very polite towards Ron and held a nice conversation the whole time.

Also during breakfast, Harry and Ron had a glimpse of how important the Malfoys really were, almost every person in the room came over to their table to say good morning, the exception being the few children present and a few of the young dominants, what Harry was very grateful for as they were still eyeing him as the last piece of chocolate cake at dessert.

Half way through breakfast Harry notice that there was another couple receiving compliments from the whole group on their engagement, including the Malfoys since Lucius and Narcissa had stopped by their table on the way in especially to offer the ‘Malfoys good wishes’ to the young couple, but nobody had said anything like it to him or Draco as far as he remembered.

“Well… um…” Harry felt at lost of how to ask about it, since he really didn’t want to be engaged in the first place but he was curious about this and he was sure Hermione would want to know everything that was going on.

“Yes, dear?” Mrs. Malfoy asked.

“Why is everybody complimenting that couple?” he opted for a more direct and safer approach.

“Their parents have just announced their impending marriage. The ceremony will be held tonight.”

“But… I mean…” ' _I’m turning in to a stuttering idiot_ ,' was all that Harry could think. Taking a deep breath he started again. “Why didn’t anybody say the same thing yesterday? To us, I mean.”

“Oh, I see. We haven’t announced it yet, therefore it is not formal. We can’t receive compliments for something that is not out there yet, can we?” Narcissa had a knowing smile on her face. She could see Harry trying to understand what was going on and was glad he was interested enough to ask.

“No, I guess we can’t.” said Harry still paying attention to the young couple a few tables over. The girl was wearing a robe similar to his with the same boat neck, the mark on her neck visible for all to see.

“Which reminds me, Harry dear, while Mr. Weasley here is doing a wonderful job,” offered Narcissa getting Harry’s attention back to her and smiling at Ron, who blushed with the compliment and bowed his head a little in thanks, “am I correct to assume that Mrs. Weasley will be taking over the role of chaperone from now on?”

“Yes, Mrs. Malfoy.” Harry hurried to answer, “We talked to her last night and she and Mr. Weasley shall be arriving later today.”

“Wonderful,” Narcissa beamed at them, “then we can make a formal announcement at the press conference this very afternoon.”

“Press… conference?” Harry and Ron gulped exchanging a glance. “What press conference?”

“The Malfoys are a very prestigious family, young man,” Mr. Malfoy answered with a smirk, “and you are the boy-who-lived after all, a union between us is bound to call attention and being hunted down by a horde of crazed reporters is not one of my favorite sports.”

“Now, dear, be nice, he doesn’t see the necessity of it” Mrs. Malfoy interrupted her husband offering a smile to the teens and continued, “if this engagement happened under different circumstances a formal announcement for the Daily Prophet would be the expected, followed by an engagement ball for you and Draco, but since we are at the gathering and a few more announcements have to be made, it’s only the proper thing to do to call for an conference.”

“And… and the ball?” Harry gulped thinking about the Yule ball from his fourth year, he noticed Ron’s freckles showing up more as his friends paled, that ball was definitely not one of their favorite moments.

Draco didn’t even need help from his veela senses to notice his mate getting nervous and it was quite easy guessing the reason why. It was a perfect moment to step in and start placing himself in front of Harry as a protective shield against the unpleasant aspects of the world - like the reporters that would be at the press conference. Especially since he knew Harry would fight tooth and nail against someone trying to protect him from anything as he would see as an attempt to keep him from throwing himself in to harms way believing it was the right thing to do – foolish Gryffindor.

“Maybe we could use that room of yours to practice dancing a little. I know I do need to brush off my skills” Draco noticed his parents giving him amused looks; maybe he was not as subtle as he had hoped to be?

“Yes,” Harry agreed with a shaky voice while Ron nodded in agreement, “practice would be good.”

Draco exchanged a look with his parents. No, his mate was oblivious to the fact that he had just been maneuvered in to accepting close contact with his mate, sure their chaperones would be there as well, but that could be used to his advantage, Harry would have to accept his touch and behave.

Draco could be many things in life, some of them not to be said out loud, but he was not a fool, he knew Harry was fighting the bond, not physically, but fighting none of the less. The way he refused touch, the way he inched away not looking at Draco… Harry had not been raised to the knowledge that one day he would have a mate and now was rebelling against it, he had to act fast or this unconscious rebellion would became conscious and that would not be pretty.

It was imperative to make Harry comfortable with Draco’s touch before having to rely on a more violent approach. In their union, Harry was the warrior and he was the diplomat and that was the way he liked things.

On the other side of the room, Pansy wished she could burn holes in Harry’s skull with her eyes.

' _Look at him, sitting there like he is some sort of blushing virgin. Everyone knows he is not a virgin anymore and he goes blushing all over the place. How dare him? It should be me sitting there. It would be me sitting there if he didn’t use some nasty charm to pretend to be a veela. There is no way he is one of us! But I’ll take care of him pretty soon, he will curse the day he tried to fit where he didn’t belong. I’ll take care of him and Draco will marry me like he was suppose to do and I’ll wipe the smirk out of the face of every single one of these harpies – not pure enough! I’ll show them._ '

Unfortunately she had her hands tied at the moment. Her mother was not pleased with the fact that she had not made a match and all the other families had already made clear that the gathering was over, all the matches that could be made were done and over with. An insult, since Pansy and another girl from… some country, were the only subs not taken. And that girl was so ugly, she was practically deformed! So her mother was taking her to some other gathering on the continent… officially that was, in reality Pansy knew would be taken home and her mother was going to write a few people, by the time she came back to school she would be engaged to some guy she never saw before and having to pretend to be happy about it.

Unless she did something about it and did it fast.

\-----------

The whole breakfast ordeal was over not a moment too soon in Harry’s opinion, although he did suspect Ron was sorry to see all the excellent food go, it was better than the everyday breakfast food they got at Hogwarts – and that was saying something.

As a group the Malfoys plus Harry and Ron got up and made their exit, nodding to a few acquaintances on their way out. Harry felt like he was part of a royal parade, they were certainly being treated like it. Once outside the dining room, Lucius and Narcissa went to their rooms while the teens went to their classes, Ron in his chaperone duties had to skip his class and attend the one Harry was in, since ‘it would be inappropriate’ for Harry to be unescorted. That fact alone kept them busting in to fits of laughter the whole morning.

\-----------

Lucius was reading the Daily Prophet while Narcissa was busy writing a few letters when there was a knock on the door. Snip, a Malfoy house-elf brought on this trip to attend the family’s primary needs answered it and announced that Professor Snape requested an interview with Mr. Malfoy. With a glance, Lucius sent Narcissa in to the other room so he could talk to his fellow Death Eater. He was dreading the conversation.

“Good day, Lucius. I hope you are well.” Greeted Snape.

“Good day, Severus. Please make yourself comfortable.” Snape sat at the armchair Lucius had indicated to him and prepared himself to a very delicate conversation with his long time friend.

“You know, Lucius, your friendship is one of the few I value and in respect to that friendship I will not pretend you don’t know what is going on or the implication of the latest events. We are both fairly intelligent men and I think perhaps it would be best to go straight to business. Don’t you agree?”

“Ever the practical man. One of the traits I admire in your personality, Severus.” Lucius smirked “straight to business it is. You want to know if I’m still faithful to our lord. Let me reassure you…”

“How much information do you have on tonight’s attack? Last night we manage to successfully defuse the attack on Whitehaven, and even though I know there will be a new one tonight I was unable to disclose the location of it.” Snape interrupted Lucius abruptly.

Snape knew he had just put all his cards on the table. It was an all or nothing moment, but the thought of maybe being able to keep his friend after being sure they would have being on different sides of the battle field for so long had keep him up all night and he simply could not wait any longer.

“You are the spy!” understanding shone on Lucius eyes. “Voldemort did suspect you, but he wasn’t sure. It’s a dangerous game the one you’re playing, my friend.”

“Did I just forfeit my live?”

“A couple days ago, yes, you would have. Today, however, the circumstances have changed. The boy is Draco’s mate, and we all saw how powerful he has become. Nothing can fool the veela senses.” Lucius paused looking deep in to his friends eyes, “no, my friend, your life is safe on my account. We are on the same side on this war.”

“I’m glad to hear it, Lucius.” Said Snape getting up and walking to his friend, pulling him in to a heart felt hug, “It’s very good to hear it.”

Narcissa pocketed her wand, quietly stepping away from the doorway from where she was watching the conversation, ready to jump in to the frame and protect her husband. Harry had turned out to be a very powerful wizard, Dumbledore was powerful, but she had known that already. Discovering that Snape was on their side, him being a force one had to acknowledge in a fight, she was more convinced than ever that they were finally on the right side of this war.


	9. Chapter 09

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Chapter 09**

"You know we have a larger problem than the attack tonight." Said Severus "as soon as the press conference is over, or maybe if we are lucky, as soon as the Prophet comes out tomorrow, the Dark Lord will know of your association with Potter and demand proof of your loyalties."

Lucius considered the matter for a few minutes. He knew Severus was right. There would be no spying game for him – not bad news by itself since he was not so fond of the idea of exposing himself to so much danger, but it also meant that he would be on top of Voldemort's hit list also a very dangerous perspective.

Now, coming to think of it, he found it very strange that Voldermort didn't seem to know already. It has been three days already, well, technically they were on the morning of the third day, but still... No messages, no summoning, no threats or demands. That was strange. Lucius knew for a fact that Severus, Augustus and he were not the only Death Eaters in attendance at the gathering.

The others were obviously waiting for something. It could be his lead or just expecting him to come forward first. That deserved some thought later on, but now he had more pressing matters to attend.

"The attack tonight will not happen. It is a trap. If any aurors or members of the order show up, Voldemort will know you are the spy." Lucius said at last.

"So, he knows." Sighed Severus.

"He suspects." Corrected Lucius "If he knew you would be dead already."

"It's only a matter of time now, and we will be blind to whatever he is planning next."

"Not necessarily." Said Lucius, "You may be able to convince him that I was the spy all along."

"I'm listening." Said Severus.

"The Dark Lord knows there is a spy, but he doesn't know who yet. Tell him it's me. I can't go back any way even if the others in attendance here are able to do so. Tell him you didn't go sooner because of me, I assured you he was being informed and it was all part of a plan. Since I'm inner circle and you are not, I outranked you and made sure things went my way. You became suspicious of my behavior and decided to take your chances on showing up even without being called."

"He will kill you" Severus faced his friend, "You know he will. He won't rest until you, Narcissa and Draco are dead!"

"He was going to do it anyway," Lucius offered with a smirk. "Don't fool yourself, Severus. It's not you signing my death sentence, it's me lifting yours. Besides, I don't intend to make it easy on him. I'll not let him take any Malfoy without a fight."

"Lucius, are you sure?"

"It's the only way, my friend. You know it as well as I do. Go to him now, before the press conference and tell him that Dumbledore expects you back in time for the damn thing, this way he won't even be able to punish you for not going sooner."

"You are right," conceded Severus, "I'll talk to Dumbledore and go. If all goes well I'll see you this afternoon."

The two friends nodded to each other and Severus left, leaving Lucius and Narcissa to discuss what they would do at the conference that afternoon.

Severus had a quick word with Dumbledore, who approved Lucius' plan, and left Hogwarts unnoticed to inform the Dark Lord of 'his recent discovery of who was the spy'. As it was his habit when he apparated away he sent a brief prayer to the gods that all went well and for the first time in years he felt an answer was coming.

\------------------ 

Half way through the morning lessons, Harry and Ron were called to the headmaster's office. They knew this moment was coming but they were nervous anyway. Last night had gone well enough, they were still alive and in one piece... and no howlers came this morning, so far so good, but Molly Weasley was coming to Hogwarts to 'set things straight', a frightful notion all by itself.

Secretly, Harry wondered if even Dumbledore was able to face Molly Weasley, once she was on a warpath, without flinching and hoping to be someplace else.

The gargoyle slid aside even before they got to it, not a good sign, and a very flushed McGonagall stepped through it, sighing and shaking her head before she saw the two teens. She got a hold of herself again and gestured for them to come along.

"There you are, gentlemen. Well, move along, move along. The headmaster is expecting you," she hurried them up the stairs in to the headmaster's office, and for the first time Harry wondered if Molly Weasley was the biggest of his problems. Across the room, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black stood up and faced their godson. Harry and Ron gulped as McGonagall closed the door behind them.

"Ah, Harry, Ron. How nice of you to join us! We were just talking about the latest events. Would you care to join us?" chipped the Headmaster plopping a lemon drop in his mouth.

"Hello, sir. Remus, Sirius." Harry greeted them trying to delay as much as he could the yelling. At the corner of his eyes he could see that Ron wasn't faring much better at the perspective of facing one Sirius Black in a conversation involving his godson, his only godson, getting married to a Malfoy.

"Harry," Sirius started all of the sudden, "you don't have to go through with it if you don't want to. You know that, right? We can take you away from school before anything happens and we'll simply keep you away until this whole mess is solv... Hey. What did you do that for?." He yelled at Remus when the werewolf slapped him on the head.

"Take him away?" asked Remus astonished.

"Uh... yeah?" offered Sirius not sure why he was getting slapped.

"Sirius, what part of 'Mr. Malfoy claimed him' did you miss from what Albus just told us?" inquired Remus sounding on the verge of his patience.

"Well... it's not set on stone..." Sirius started only to be interrupted by Remus, Dumbledore and McGonagall signing together, "What?"

"Sirius Black!" chipped McGonagall "We've been through this before... twice! Draco Malfoy claimed Mr. Potter in a traditional gathering ceremony. Here," she offered pulling Harry and turning his neck to Sirius so he could see the bite mark, "he bears the mark of a claimed sub, and his chase was the most eventful one on the past... Merlin, I don't know how many years. Every single Dominant present at the gathering stopped the pursuit of any other submissive and they all went for Mr. Potter. I believe that even a few of the older ones considered joining the chase."

"But... he is not married yet." Tried Sirius.

"Just because I didn't get pregnant," murmured Harry still blushing after McGonagall manhandling him and making Sirius turn to him with wide eyes. "Well, it's true."

"Harry," Remus interfered in the staring contest between his friend and his honorary godson, "Do you want to go away?"

Harry looked at Remus as if he had grown another head and blinked a few times.

"I..." 

"If you do, we are here for you. We'll take you away for as long as it is necessary, but you have to be sure because Malfoy won't be pleased and he won't be waiting for you if you change your mind five years from now." Remus clarified.

"I... I don't know." Harry sat in one of the armchairs Dumbledore had in his office. "I never considered... mating... with Malfoy before, and half of the time I still feel like I should just go up to him and punch his lights out for good, but... ever since this," said Harry indicating the mark on his neck, "I get weird every time he comes near."

"Harry," called McGonagall sitting by his side and taking his hand in to hers, "is it a good weird or a bad weird?"

"It's good, I guess."

"Well, that settles it," said Dumbledore smiling like a loon, "Mr. Potter will remain here and continue to take part in the marriage negotiations. I believe, Sirius, that even thought you are still on the run from the ministry, the Malfoys won't oppose to your participation on the negotiations." 

"Who will be Harry's chaperone?" asked Sirius, "I can't take any official roles until my name is clear."

"And I'm afraid I'm not an option. I'm not family and part of a complete different group of magical creatures." Offered Remus.

"We asked my mom to be Harry's chaperone," Ron spoke for the first time since entering the room, "she should be here any minute now."

"A very good choice, Harry. She is close enough to be seen as family and comes from a very proper family." Sirius pondered out loud. "Now, how in Merlin's name did all of this happen in the first place?"

"And that would be my cue," said Dumbledore getting up and walking out of the door, "you may stay in my office, gentlemen. Mrs. Weasley will be brought up as soon as she arrives." And just like that the headmaster left the four of them in his office to catch up.

\----------

Snape made his way into Voldemort's chambers where he found the Dark Lord pouring over an assortment of books and parchments scattered over a large table.

"My lord." Said Snape dropping to one knee and bowing his head. 

"Ah, Severus. I didn't send for you so there must be something of great importance to bring you here." Snape could hear the irony on the Dark Lord's voice.

"I do hope so, my lord. I come to you with a suggestion for a minor modification in your plans for the Potter brat and I beg your forgiveness if I displease you." Offered Snape still kneeling.

"Speak your mind. Severus. Let me be the judge of your plans." Answered the Dark Lord mildly interested in what his Hogwarts spy had to say since he had no plans for the imminent future.

"It's about the engagement, my lord. I'm following Lucius’ lead on the whole thing, but I do think there was more that we could do." Baited Snape hoping that Voldemort fell for it.

"Engagement? What engagement are you talking about, Severus?" Snape knew he had Voldemort's full attention now.

"The one between the Potter brat and Draco Malfoy, my lord. Not to go against your planning, since the finer details are not know to me, a wise decision but it does cripple any help that I could offer without your prompting, my lord, but perhaps we could get the brat before the originally planned date if..." started Snape, going along with the plan and playing the part of being fooled by Malfoy.

"WHAT?" roared Voldemort, "When did this happen? HOW did this happen?"

"I'm sorry, my lord, I never meant to imply I didn't trust or wouldn’t go along with your plan. It's just that Lucius was not very forthcoming with all the details and..." Snape sputtered pretending to misinterpret the questions.

"Not that. You idiot, when did they get engaged and how did this came to be? And what is this about Malfoy's plan?"

"At the gathering, my lord. It was discovered that Potter is a submissive Veela descendent, apparently a powerful one for what I'm been told. Draco Malfoy was the one who claimed him and now they are engaged. A formal announcement will be made today at the press conference at Hogwarts and Lucius has informed me it was all a part of one of your plans devised to capture the brat and kill him once he is away from the school grounds...and warned me quite passionately that I should not draw attention to me or do anything to jeopardize the situation." 

"I see. Start at the beginning, Severus, and tell me everything" Snape could almost see Voldemort's thoughts flying around in his head as he quickly accessed the situation; it was time for the final blow that would save his life and unfortunately put his friend in danger.

"I'm not sure when it started, my lord, perhaps the day before the gathering when Malfoy made sure Potter was given detention collecting herbs in the forbidden forest or perhaps the whole thing was unplanned and it really started at noon, during the gathering..." bit by bit, Snape gave the dark Lord an edited version of the events that had taken place in the past few days, letting Voldemort set the pace of how he should give the information, letting him ask questions and answering as the loyal follower he was suppose to be.

He was also careful not to implicate Draco as more than a Dominant following his instincts, using their surname in order to create confusion and at the same time not compromise his position in case his antics were discovered. He might have been forced to offer his friend as a decoy to the dark lord, but he was not about to give him his godson as well.

"And why, Severus, didn't you come forward sooner with this information?" Snape signed, Voldemort had finally arrived at the point of this whole charade.

"I was following Lucius lead, my lord. He is in your inner circle and I'm not. He outranks me and had assured me it was all part of a plan conceived by you to capture the brat."

"And what made you doubt him?"

"He started asking questions, my lord, about any potions I might be brewing at your request. We had conversations like that many times, he was always interested in my raids or any other assignments. I never suspected anything because I just thought he was keeping himself updated with all the activities and we have been friends for so long, but today..." Snape hesitated on purpose, he knew Voldemort liked the impression he was being persuasive while extracting information from his minions.

"What was different today, Severus?"

"He was... pressing. Like he had little time left." Snape made a show of be looking for words as if not so sure of what to say, "but it was only about the potions and anything else I might be doing by myself for you, my lord, and..."

"And what, Sssseverussss? Out with it." Yelled the dark lord.

"He has been talking to Dumbledore all the time, my lord, more than usual."

"More than ussssual? And how muchh doesss he 'ussssually' talksss to that old fool?"

"He is at Hogwarts every week, my lord, keeping an eye on the man while pretending to go about his governor duties on the school grounds."

"And how long hasss thisss been going on? This eye keeping business of his?"

"Ever since you ordered him, my lord, about six months after your return. He came by the dungeons to gloat about you needing another man on the job you had assigned me."

"The spy! Lucius is the spy!" roared Voldemort, "Go back to that blasted school, Severus, keep an eye on him. Don't let him know that I know about his treachery. I want to know everything that is going on. Write me a full report and make sure to tell me everything you know about Lucius’ visitations to the headmaster. GO!"

Severus ran out of the ruined house and apparated back to Hogwarts' limits, while he made his way back to the castle he said a silent prayer to be doing the right thing and not complicating things even more to his friend.


	10. Chapter 10

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Chapter 10**

Molly flooed to Hogwarts as soon as she could after breakfast. Arthur left for the Ministry but promised to make it to Hogwarts in time for the press conference and the twins, after being told to stay away from the school grounds or else, settled for sending Harry their best wishes on the engagement… or that was how Molly intended to tell Harry.

She was glad about the floo arrangement. Because of the festivities the floo network in Hogwarts was even more restricted than usual and could only be used for conversations and only a special permit by the headmaster had allowed her to floo directly. Merlin only knew what kind of commotion she would cause if she arrived at the Three Broomsticks with every single social reporter in the wizarding world waiting around for news on the gathering.

Sure, she was the mother of two undergraduate students, but they were the best friends of one Harry Potter and while no one seemed to know about the latest events, nothing about Harry was considered unworthy of making the news. The reporters would be all over her in a second, and once they knew about the engagement and Harry’s Veela inheritance they would go insane.

Molly shivered thinking about what the next few months would bring.

She arrived at the floo entrance room and hastily made her way to the headmaster’s office, noticing a few late students running to their classes. Albus Dumbledore himself was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs to his office holding a light gray cloak in his arm. The chaperone cloak.

“Hello, Molly,” greeted the old wizard, “right on time, as usual. Allow me to be the first to congratulate you and wish you the best of luck in your new task.”

“Thank you, sir,” Molly accepted gracefully, “It’s a honor to be here.”

' _Oh, my! It is real_ ' though Molly shocked as the reality finally sunk in, she was half hoping this whole thing was nothing but an elaborate prank, but it was real. Dumbledore had just officially greeted her as the appointed chaperone of an intended.

“If I may,” continued Dumbledore unfolding the cloak he was carrying, “I took the liberty of contacting Gringotts and they sent me a brooch with the Potter Crest. Now, I know the Potters were not Veela descendents, but since Harry is the last one of their line…”

Dumbledore showed her the beautiful cloak with a large brooch covered in precious stones displaying a wand and a sword crossed over a branch, the Potter coat of arms, and help her put on the cloak. Now that she could look at it better, Molly noticed it was not gray as she originally thought, but rather bluish.

“You look astonishing, my dear. Shall we meet your young charge?” asked Dumbledore offering her his arm, which she took, and gently leading her to the stairs to his office.

\---------

The scene in the headmaster’s office was not what Molly had expected. Remus was having a hard time controlling his laughter while Harry, who was half hiding behind him, was glaring at Sirius, who in turn was sitting on the floor… glaring at the fireplace?

“What happen here?” Molly asked confused.

“Sirius decided that I was under a spell and he had to save me by taking me away from Hogwarts, the only reason I’m still here is because the fireplace spilled us back!” Harry explained still glaring at his godfather.

“Oh, my. Good thing the security measures are in place then,” said Dumbledore with the damn twinkle in his eyes at full force.

“What? SIRIUS BLACK! I expected better from you,” yelled Molly. One look was exchanged between Lupin and Dumbledore before both men decided that perhaps Madame Pomfrey could use their help in the hospital wing, or maybe Hagrid, at some place that was safer than the headmaster’s office at the moment… like the Forbidden Forest.

Molly never noticed the two men leaving the room. She pulled Harry to her side, placing herself between the young man and his godfather while continuing to dress down the man.

“I KNOW YOU WERE RAISED BETTER THAN THAT. NOT EVEN YOU WOULD TRY TO GET IN THE WAY OF ONE OF OUR MOST TREASURED TRADITIONS”

“But, Molly, the Malfoys…” Sirius stuttered.

“Care about this tradition more than anybody else I know. Merlin help me, Sirius Black, but if I can see that about the Malfoys so should you. I don’t like them and you know that, but this is larger than a simple family feud. Situations like this have happen before and you know it! It’s not the first time two rivaling families have had to put aside their differences and become one.” Molly was one breath away of hexing Sirius for his attempted kidnapping of Harry.

“but… but… the dark lord…” the animagus tried again.

“This is larger than a dark lord!” Molly yelled shutting Sirius for good. Seeing the black haired wizard sag back against the wall Molly turned to Harry. “Hello dear. It is nice to see you again. Shall we go over the details of the marriage?”

“Uh?” Harry blinked confused.

“Come here, Sirius, your godson could use your help with some of these details. I know you understand some of them better than I do.” Molly offered as a way to help the poor man to come to terms with his godson’s impending marriage.

Dumbledore and Remus chose that moment to come back baring a tray with tea and scones for all of them. They were visibly relived to see that the situation was firmly under Molly’s control.

Gently guiding the now very subdued animagus into a chair, Molly made sure that everyone in the room knew who was in charge from now on. She sat herself beside Harry and waited for Dumbledore to produce the parchments with the first draft of the marriage contract he had worked out with the Malfoys the day before.

Two hours later Harry had the distinct impression that someone had decide to banish the Queen’s English, adopt a whole new language and forgot to tell him about it. He had no idea what more than half of the words meant, but he was pretty sure he had been insulted at least once… or praised. Well, they did mention his name, so each one was really anybody’s guess. But the rest of the people in the room seemed to be able to follow what was going on and nobody was mad anymore. Surely, between Molly, Sirius, Remus and Dumbledore they would work something up that would be not so bad to live with… to live with…

Oh, Merlin! He was going to live with Malfoy. Maybe even with more than one Malfoy. He would have to sleep in the same bed with Draco Malfoy!

Suddenly Harry felt like there was not enough air in the room. He quickly got up to his feet, attracting the attention of the four grown ups around him.

“Er… I need to go to the loo. Can I be excused for a bit?” he asked very flushed, “it’s not like I understand very much of this anyway”.

“Of course, Harry,” Dumbledore gave him a reassuring look, “All this legal gibberish must seem terrible complicated at first. Don’t worry, we will work out the details of this contract and run them by you before anything is settled. I believe that if you return in, say, 30 or 45 minutes, we will have everything ready for you.”

“Thank you, Headmaster. Remus, Sirius, Molly,” Harry nodded to each one before making a hasty retreat to the nearest bathroom to throw some water on his face. How did he lose control of his life so easily? And it wasn’t even the first time! There was always something to stir him in the opposite direction he had planned to go in the first place.

And just to prove him right, as he passed by a set of double doors, a pale hand shot out and pulled him into what it looked like a balcony overlooking the lake.

Harry barely had time to register this before a tall figure stepped in front of him.

“Hello, love. How was your day so far?” a dazzling smile almost blinded him as he looked at the face of a very tall, very strong, and very close to him, Draco Malfoy.

“Uh… my day… fine, I…” Harry was having a hard time concentrating, there was something distracting him again, like in DA… when was that again? Last night? Yeah, that seemed about right, last night, when Draco kissed him… um, kiss Draco.

Harry moved closer to the blond who simply pulled the raven haired beauty in front of him into his arms and lowered his head. Letting Harry kiss him for the first time, every other kiss they had before had been his doing. It was the first time his mate took the initiative and he was all for encouraging that.

His mate was sweet and soft, molding himself against Draco’s larger body like his life depended on it. Draco’s instincts went in overdrive. He sat on the balcony’s stone bench and pulled his mate to his lap, making Harry straddle him while never breaking the kiss. Tradition be dammed, he was in heaven.

\--------

Back in the Headmaster’s office.

“Don’t you think Harry was acting a bit strangely? He seemed so distracted.” Remus murmured to Sirius a bit louder than he intended. Molly’s head shot up.

“What do you mean, Remus?”

“Well, he is always going on about how he wants to know everything and make all the decisions in his life and yet, here we are discussing his whole future and he just went for a walk?” Remus was finally voicing something that had been bothering for the past few minutes and the second he said it, they all knew what was going on.

“Darn, that Malfoy brat was calling him. How could we not see it? He was using the Veela call to lure Harry out of the room!” yelled Sirius getting to his feet and trying to get to the door before anybody could stop him… not a easy feat with a mother of seven in the same room. In a blink she was standing in front of him, for a woman of her age and a bit overweight, she sure could be fast on her feet.

“Sirius Black. You are not going out of that door like this. You’ll simply get yourself thrown in Azkaban again. Besides, right now we need Padfoot’s sense of smell more than anything else, so change and make yourself useful…and no biting your godson’s fiancé.”

“If I find that little brat with his hands on my godson, me biting him will be the least of his worries,” muttered Sirius before turning into his animagus form and dashing out of the room followed by the others.

“And what do we do when we find them?” pondered Remus seriously worried about the life expectancy of the Malfoy heir if he indeed had managed to do something to Harry.

“If the situation proves to be as daring as Sirius seems to expect, we will have to remember that in spite of all their instincts, Harry and Draco are still very much like any other human teenager. Therefore I suggest the use of a few buckets of ice cold water,” suggested the Headmaster with an amused grin on his face. “Works like a charm every time,” he added winking to Molly, who just smiled.

\----------

Harry moaned. Draco had his hands under his shirt and was teasing him merciless. He was ready to rip his mate’s clothes off and take matters into his own hands, quite literally. He never stopped to think when exactly Draco had acquired the title of his mate and right now he couldn’t care less about it, he just didn’t want to think.

The outside world, however, found a way to intrude in his haze. Harry began to hear faint voices calling him from far way. He didn’t want to acknowledge the voices at first, but they insisted on calling him, sounding more and more distressed and closer each time they sounded. He finally heard a woman’s voice loud and clear, ringing right by his ear.

“Harry Potter, what exactly do you think you’re doing, young man?”

Harry turned his still glazed eyes to the matronly figure standing by his side with her hands on her hips, she was saying something to him and she was family, he knew that… and she did look vaguely familiar. Harry also knew there was something important going on, something he should be doing... What was it? A light bite in his ear lobe sent shivers down his spine and made him forget the world and the group of grown-ups standing in the balcony with him and his mate.

Draco, however, was very much aware of another presence, someone was coming closer to his mate and they were going to try and take his mate away from him. Now, that was something he was not going to allow. Shifting his mate on his lap so he could see them, he turned to the intruders and growled threatening them.

The group of intruders did not back away; he could see them drawing their wands and mentally up graded them from annoyance to menace.

Harry felt the change in his mate and turned his head to the intruders as well. Now he could see the wands and understood the threat. They were trying to hurt his mate and he would not let that happen. His mate was tense and growling, ready to attack if necessary.

Harry slid off his mate’s lap and they both got up to face their enemy. They were both growling now, standing side by side with their muscles tense and their eyes glowing ready to attack.

\-----------

Remus was worried. Sirius had picked Harry’s scent and quickly let them to the balcony down the hall from the entrance to the headmaster’s office. They had rushed in only to find Harry practically riding Draco Malfoy. Thank Merlin, they still had their trousers on, but by the look of things it was just a matter of time until they were gone.

Molly Weasley stood in front of the group and tried to call Harry. The good news was that he did look at her; somehow her voice did get to him. The bad news was that his eyes were completely green, like two giant emeralds, completely Veela.

Harry barely looked at them before Draco dragged his attention back to him, but they did get Draco’s full attention and it was easy to see that the dominant Veela was not pleased with them standing so close by. He switched Harry to his other side and faced them growling. Clearly, telling to go someplace else.

They would have to be careful now; both boys were too far gone to respond to any attempt of interference or accept the authority of the chaperone. Not even the spells woven in the chaperone’s gray cloak would work now. They were not strong enough – just the basic spells to get the Veela’s hormones under control before they start acting up.

Sirius took his human form back and the four of them exchanged looks trying to find a way to defuse the situation. Not seeing any other alternative they pulled their wands and aimed at the teens. They would have to be fast now, Veela were not fond of being under wand point, especially when they were almost mating with their chosen ones.

Harry slid off Draco’s lap and both stood facing them. Their eyes were glowing and their muscles tense. Remus got ready and sensed the others doing the same by his side, time was of the essence now.

The teens prepared to pounce but a second before they could leap five well aimed spells took away their will to fight.

“Ok,” was all that Remus could bring himself to say several minutes after the frustrated attack, “I thought we were dousing them with ice water.”

“Uh… yes, but I kind of forgot that,” murmured Sirius avoiding eye contact with the others.

“Oh, forgot, did you? Is that why Malfoy is now laying unconscious on the floor in a full body bind?” Molly had to physically restrain Remus from smacking Sirius. “You stupefied AND bound him because you suddenly forgot a spell you used at least once a week to wake either me, Peter or James up?”

Molly turned away from the quarreling duo to see the headmaster wrap a large towel around Harry’s shoulder. The poor thing was shivering because of the two buckets of ice water Molly and Remus had doused him with.

“What happened?” asked Harry chattering his teeth and trying to understand why Draco was unconscious, bound and wet on the floor.

“Oh, dear,” said Molly pulling Harry to her and making sure the towel was firmly placed around him, “it was nothing, you and Mr. Malfoy were just exercising your Veela nature. Nothing wrong with that but we are here to make sure it doesn’t happen again until the two of you are properly married. Now, let’s get you into some dry clothes. Alright, dear?”

And just like that, Molly pulled Harry away from the balcony and into the Gryffindor tower before he could fully understand what was going on.

Once in the tower there was another surprise waiting for them. The hallway which led to the fat lady’s portrait now had a large double door with massive handles on it some five meters before the wall where the entrance to the common room was. After you went through the new door, you came upon a hallway with the fat lady’s portrait hanging on its usual place and a new portrait of a beautiful woman sitting in an armchair and looking out the window beside her.

Molly stood in front of the new painting and gave her what Harry assumed was the password. The portrait swung open and revealed a nice sitting room inside.

“Come along, dear, your things are already inside.” Said Molly urging Harry to step through the opening and leading him through the room into a door at the back. That proved to be a door to a nice looking bedroom but Molly kept urging him on, taking him to another door.

“Now, Harry. This will be your room. As you can see to go out you have to go through my room, so I expect you to knock before opening the door. You have your own bathroom with special products to cover your scent – what happened today should illustrate well enough why this is necessary,” Molly gave him a maternal smile as she explained this to him. “We almost didn’t make it in time today. You two were very passionate.”

Harry blushed intensely before he caught up with something else Mrs. Weasley said.

“Wait, why do I have to go through your room to go out, Mrs. Weasley?”

“When a dominant Veela has his sight set on a particular individual, as Draco has on you, they tend to use what we know as ‘The Call’ in order to lure the object of their affection in to… completing the bond with them,” Molly did her best not to laugh at the deeper blush spreading on Harry’s face, “and while this is acceptable in a full Veela society, it is not as desirable in ours. That is part of the reason you will have a chaperone with you at all times. The cloak we receive has spells woven into it to curb this tendency until the wedding and, of course, you are still a very enticing submissive Veela, a more forceful dominant could decide to claim you before the marriage, my presence here should also prevent that.”

“So… You will be with me all the time?” Harry blinked confused.

“Within reason, yes. All the time.” Answered Molly herding Harry into his room where he could change his clothes. Thankfully, she closed the door after him rather than going in to help him change.

' _Oh, that is great. Thank you so much, Malfoy!_ ' thought Harry shedding his wet clothes and rummaging in his trunk for a set of dry ones.


	11. Chapter 11

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Chapter 11**

Harry took a quick shower and got dressed before knocking on Molly’s door. The irony of having to knock before leaving his own room did not please him. It felt like he was in prison...or back at the Dursleys. Molly opened the door for him, even though it was not locked, and led him into the first room, where a table for two was set. Harry finally acknowledge that he was indeed hungry and it was already lunch time.

“Mrs. Weasley,” Harry started over lunch, not sure how to ask the things he wanted to know, “Why am I wearing these new products to mask my scent? And why only now? Shouldn’t I… or any submissive for that matter, use them all the time?”

“Oh, dear, of course not.” Molly answered, “The families who have a magical creature inheritance are very proud of that fact. It means their magic is stronger and that they have access to skills that an ordinary wizard or witch doesn’t have, but of course, there is a down side. It’s all well and good to celebrate the fact that your family has a magical creature ingrained to it, but you must always remember that you are not an animal and therefore should not behave like one. The engagement season is a necessity, I’m sure you understand why, you felt the urges, didn’t you? And I’m sure young Mister Malfoy was displaying his quite plainly for all to see.”

Harry felt his face burning and Molly smiled at the deep blush the teen was spotting.

“Now, imagine if we didn’t have a gathering. It would be chaos, the dominants would never stop chasing you and the claiming would take place… well, just think of what would happen if you had decided to enter the school through the main hall.”

Harry now was sure he had just discovered a new shade of red, for his blush suddenly got even brighter. Molly pretended she didn’t notice it and continued her explanation. The sooner Harry understood this, the better.

“Now, once you’re claimed as demanded by tradition and nature, it would be considered unbecoming of a young lady… or gentlemen, to go around exposing himself. That is why these special products are made available for you after the claiming.”

“Oh” was all Harry could come up with. It made no sense to him, one minute they wanted to behave like animals, participate in this wild chase and then announce to the whole world that they had shagged. The next minute he was suppose to prove he could be this proper gentleman and act like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, only now he was engaged to Malfoy and couldn’t think straight whenever the blond was near.

“So…” he started hesitantly, “according to this tradition, I’m suppose to behave like a veela for a day to this whole group of people, but once that day is over I’m only suppose to be a veela for Malfoy?”

“In very simple terms, yes.” Answered Molly. She could see the teen was trying to make sense of it all, but it was not simple, how to explain to him the conflict between the pride of being a pureblood and at the same time the pride of not being fully human?

They continue to have lunch while Molly did her best to answer the gazillion questions Harry seemed to have on his new found inheritance. The million galleons question, however, remained unanswered. No one knew where the said inheritance had come from in spite of Albus Dumbledore and the dozens of Veela representatives that now poured over genealogy books trying to find the elusive blood line that had produced Harry Potter.

\-------------

Narcissa was at her wits end. She had spent the day talking to as many Veela representatives as she had dared. She went as far as talking to the High Councils in England, France and Norway. Still, no one had reported a missing male child or any links to the Potters, and that presented a problem for the only remaining member of the family was the mud… muggleborn mother, Lily Evans, and no Veela descendant had ever shown up in a muggle family before. There weren’t even any squibs in a Veela family, for crying out loud! Well… there was a rumor about a certain cousin of either Molly or Arthur Weasley, she couldn’t remember which, but their Veela blood was almost gone anyway.

Narcissa shook her head, forcing herself to concentrate on what was important; a genealogy line had to be established. They had to know what clan the submissive came from. There were far too many political implications for that to remain unknown and she, for one, hated surprises.

Not that they would ever demand the submissive back, the claim had been properly laid over him, but still, it was Harry Potter they were talking about, and not only that but also a very powerful submissive, the most powerful one in years! The possible political alliances deriving from that were enough to make her head spin.

The Zabinis were already talking about marring one of Draco’s future children to one of their future grandchildren and they were only the first to come forward. Lucius had already been approached by two different families offering to join their side in the war, families that so far had remained neutral in the conflict. The representative from the British High Council had made discrete inquiries about where they stood in the war, giving hints that the Veela were about to join in as a group…

Narcissa felt faint. She had always known that as Lady Malfoy she was an important woman in the Wizarding and Veela World alike, but the deference she had been receiving all morning… it went beyond anything she had ever experienced.

She opened yet another genealogy book, it was way past time to know all there was to know about a certain submissive’s family.

A knock on the door startled her.

\------------

Padfoot’s ears were ringing, Remus was still ranting about the hexes he had thrown at Draco Malfoy, like he didn’t deserve it. The same Draco Malfoy who was currently still unconscious while they floated him through the halls of Hogwarts to the quarters the Malfoys were occupying.

Sirius turned back into his human form was Remus knocked politely on the door and they waited until Narcissa opened the door. The ice cold stare she directed at them and the slow raise of a single eyebrow was enough for Sirius to rethink exactly how much did her son needed the curses he had thrown at the teen. In one second the cold look was gone as if it had never existed and the regal lady smiled at the two men.

“Mister Lupin, Sirius,” greeted Narcissa in a light and cheerful tone while stepping aside for them to enter, “Please come in, I didn’t know you were staying at Hogwarts.”

“We have just arrived, my dear,” offered Sirius as they lowered Draco on a couch, “We figure that with this whole Veela mess he could need some family near by.”

“And?” prompted Narcissa.

“And what, dear cousin?” asked Sirius with his best ‘I’m-completely-innocent-in-this-one look. Remus felt like smacking him over the head.

“Sirius Orion Black! Don’t you ‘dear cousin’ me.” Scold Narcissa, “and why is my son unconscious on that couch?”

“Oh, that, he used The Call on Harry,” said Sirius as if he was stating the most common thing in the world. Remus started to contemplate using a vase or a statue instead of his hand while hitting Sirius over the head.

“Strange side effect, wouldn’t you say?” asked Narcissa ironically.

“Well…” started Sirius but Remus decided that he would like to live a little longer and still have the use of all his body parts.

“He managed to lure Harry away from us, Dumbledore and Harry’s chaperone before we noticed what was going on. By the time we caught on to them they were already too far gone to recognize anybody and got ready to attack. We had to use our wands to prevent a full blown attack from them.”

“From both of them?” Narcissa was surprised. Usually the Submissive would let the Dominant do all the fighting for the couple. Then again, it was Harry Potter they were talking about.

“Yes, both of them. Their eyes were mutated, as were their claws and they were growling at us. Not a comfortable situation.” Remus volunteered.

“No, I don’t think it would be,” agreed Narcissa willing to forget the fact that her son had been hexed, if her memory served her well, her own father had done something similar to Lucius once, not that she would volunteer that information, but it helped her keep her perspective. “But that does remind me of something, I’m intrigued about where did Mr. Potter’s Veela inheritance came from. I was not aware of Veela ascendance in the Potter line and I can’t find a single reference to it. What can you tell me about his mother, Mrs. Potter’s, family?”

“That is the great mystery of the year,” sighed Sirius, “as far as we know there has never been a mating between a Veela and a muggle and Lily was just a normal muggleborn witch. Very talented, yes, but nothing besides a muggleborn.”

“If you say so, dear,” answered Narcissa absently minded.

“Narcissa, it is the mother of your future son-in-law we are talking here.” Scowled Sirius.

“Oh, Sirius, please,” complained Narcissa, “I meant no disrespect, I simply made an observation that you may not have all the information concerning this matter. That’s all. Could it be that Harry was not the Potter’s child? Not by birth, I mean, could he be adopted?”

Sirius frowned considering the question, under any other circumstances it would have been an offensive question, but Narcissa did have a point: Harry’s Veela blood had to come from somewhere.

“No, We were there the night Harry was born and he definitely smelled like James and Lily’s child.” Answered Remus before Sirius, he noted all the genealogy books on the top of a near by table and stepped closer to take a look. “May I?”

“Of course,” allowed Narcissa, “I’ve studding those books for hours and I can find a single link to neither Mr. Potter nor a missing male child anywhere in Britain or the rest of Europe.”

“How about a female child a couple of decades back?” asked Remus flipping a few pages in one of the books.

“We are starting to look in to that.”

“We?” asked Sirius.

“Yes, cousin, we,” Narcissa looked at him pointedly, “the Veela Councils are very strict in keeping records of every child born with Veela blood, three days ago I would have told you that our records were flawless, now… let’s just say it has become a matter of Veela pride to find out how a powerful Submissive like Mr. Potter has simply slipped through our fingers.”

“And what possibilities did the Veela Council come up with to explain Harry’s inheritance?” asked Sirius, but before Narcissa could answer a soft chime sounded announcing that it was time for lunch. The three of them agreed it would be best to wait until that evening before they continued their discussion and parted ways. Narcissa went to meet Lucius at the dining hall where the Veela families were eating and the two marauders to the kitchens, where the presence of wanted man like Sirius Black would not cause a riot.

\----------

Soon after three in the afternoon the school gates were open. Reporters from several newspapers hurried in to make sure they had a good seat in the press conference that was about to start. Safely hidden behind one of the stained glass windows Harry was trying to see if he knew any of them.

“Some of them kind of look familiar, but I don’t recognize many of them... Oh, and I’m sure I never saw that one before.” He said pointing at an extremely well dressed witch.

“That is Sandra Williams, dear,” offered Mrs. Weasley from over his shoulder as she adjusted her chaperone’s cloak and her hair, “she is a social butterfly, as they say, she only writes for the society pages telling people all that important information of who is dating who, who is getting married, who gave the party, who went to the party and who was wearing what. You know, all the ‘essential’ information,” she added with a look that told exactly how essential she considered the whole thing.

Harry had to laugh at her tone. It was obvious what she thought of social pages and quite honestly he couldn’t help but agree. Mrs. Weasley came over and checked his outfit. Once more he was wearing the boat neck robe displaying his claiming mark.

“Let’s go, dear,” she said opening the door and checking the hall for any unpleasant surprises, “we are expected in the great hall for the press conference. Now, once inside, you’ll stand with the other Submissives and wait to be called. I’ll be sitting near by and I’ll walk with you to the high table, our announcement will be the last one since the reporters will probably not hear a single word about anything else once they hear your name.”

“hm… oh, ok.” Harry was desperately trying to make sense of what he was hearing but he knew he was about to start screaming if anybody said he had to remember anything else. It was too much, and on top of all that had already happened he was going towards a bunch of reporters when all of his instincts told him to run the other way. Silently, he sent a prayer to whoever was listening to make this press thing as short as possible.

\----

Pansy shifted her weight from one foot to another and discreetly looked around to see if anybody was looking at her and was relieved to notice that everyone’s attention was focused on the speaker. Harry Potter was just a few feet in front of her with his attention firmly on the high table at the end of the room and she was free to make her move.

Walking slowly and making sure she didn’t call unwanted attention, Pansy carefully placed herself right behind Harry and after two frustrated attempts she managed to slip a small bracelet in the brunette’s pocket. Just a small cheap bracelet that her accomplice had made sure it was cursed with a confundus spell.

Once she made sure the bracelet was where she wanted she quietly muttered the words to activate the spell before stepping to Harry’s side and making sure to catch his attention.

“I suppose congratulations are in order,” she offered sweetly.

“hm… thank you,” answered Harry politely giving her a side glance.

“It’s so nice that you managed to be here, claimed and all,” Pansy continued as if she was talking to herself, “and to think all of this come out of a detention where you were suppose to collect some very important potion ingredients for professor Snape. Did he ever thank you for those very important potion ingredients? I remember that he was desperately needing those.” Pansy made sure to emphasize the key words she wanted Harry to listen.

“Oh, no,” Harry’s eyes went wide when he remembered the abandoned basket in the forest, “I forgot to bring back the herbs!”

“Harry, that is terrible!” said Pansy looking chocked, “You know how professor Snape gets when we fail to follow his instructions. You have to do something.”

“What can I do?” Harry was getting desperate.

“If you sneak out of here now nobody will notice you gone for some time and you’ll be able to fetch the ingredients and deliver them before getting into even more trouble.”

“I don’t…”

“Harry, go.” Urged Pansy, “I’ll cover for you.”

Harry stopped for half a second, it did sound like a good plan and he had to get those ingredients, Snape would skin all the Gryffindors alive if he didn’t complete the task he was given for detention. _He had to go, it was the most important thing at the moment and of course he would be back in time._

“Ok, thank you, Pansy,” whispered Harry already leaving the great hall. Once outside he broke in to a run straight to the Forbidden Forest. He didn’t see another person leave the great hall soon after and follow him in to the woods.

In the great hall, Pansy smiled to herself. “It was my pleasure, Harry dear, completely mine.” She muttered as she made her way to the end of the room and stood off to the side of the high table.

At the table, the opening speech for the press conference was over and the only wedding of the season was announced to the press, the engagements would now follow. Pansy could see the reporters stealing glances around, they knew the first announcements would be the least important ones and they had already spotted Draco Malfoy in full Dominant garb, so a Malfoy announcement was being expected. Her moment of glory was fast approaching.

And finally…

Lucius Malfoy stood up and made his way to the side of the table where the announcements were made while Narcissa and Draco stood behind him looking proud.

“I, Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, am proud to announce that a match had been made this year for the Malfoy family and as so, I here by present…”

“Pansy Parkinson, and I’m already pregnant with Draco’s child” Pansy jumped in front of the table making the grand announcement. Her big smile didn’t falter for a second while she posed for the thousands of photographs being taken of her amidst the immediate chaos that issued in the hall.

Meanwhile, Molly Weasley was looking around desperately trying to find her charge, Harry Potter, who was nowhere in sight.

\------------


	12. Chapter 12

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Chapter 12**

Mikael Ivanoff cursed under his breath as the green-eyed submissive ran into the forest. Now he would have to chase him and that was not part of the plan. And if Ivanoff loved anything that was a well thought out plan.

He was very proud of the plan actually, a stroke of genius if he could say so himself, and at the same time it was very simple like the best plans usually are. The unworthy submissive Parkinson had come looking for him a couple of nights ago, asking for his help in obtaining ‘what was rightfully hers’ according to her. And who was he to turn a lady down? He had helped her the best he could and all she had to do now was slip a bracelet he had charmed into his chosen submissive’s pocket and nudge him towards the forest, Ivanoff would be there to meet him just outside the school and offer himself as an escort into the dangerous forest and once inside he could claim the submissive, go back to the school, get their things and they would be gone from the school grounds before anybody noticed they were missing. A perfect plan… but did the submissive had to run into the forest?

That called for a change in tactics, instead of escorting the submissive he would run ahead to the place where the little beauty had first been spotted by the other dominants. Once there he would take the submissive by surprise and claim him. That was even better than the original plan, this way no one would be able to say there had been foul play and he would still get his submissive.

It was all working perfectly; Ivanoff made to the right place in record time and sat himself on a fallen tree trunk to wait, barely containing a satisfied smile. After five minutes he began to feel restless, the submissive should have arrived by now but there was still no sign of the delightful creature. Ivanoff looked around afraid that somehow the submissive had been there before him and got what he came for, but saw no signs of anybody being there in the past three days, even the discarded submissive’s clothes were still there.

Ivanoff did a double take, the clothes! He quickly picked them up and brought them to his nose. He could still smell the submissive’s scent, it was still very strong on the clothes but not a whiff of it could be found in the air… a cold shiver ran through Ivanoff, the submissive was wearing the dampening products; he was not leaving a trail by scent! And he was also wearing a bracelet with a _confundus_ spell on it, a spell with _his_ magical signature.

The older wizard was beginning to panic; the boy should be at the clearing by now. If he hadn’t shown up by now it was likely he wasn’t going to, he could be lost in the forest thanks to his spell and there was no way to trace him by scent! But why was he lost? He knew the way to the clearing, Ivanoff had made sure of it, it was a common place to collect potion ingredients, common enough to be reached even under a _confundus_ spell, and all the submissive had to do was show and pick up the basket with the ingredients he had already collected and… the basket!

Ivanoff looked around frantically there was no basket anywhere. He tried to concentrate on the memory of the first time he had laid eyes on the submissive. Did he have the basket with him when he took off on his broom? Darn it, he did. Which meant that he had let go of the basket sometime during the flight and the blasted thing could be anywhere in the forest…and wherever it was, that was where the submissive was trying to go, under a spell that would make sure he got lost, a spell with his signature! Suddenly the plan didn’t seem so good after all.

He had to get the boy back. It was his only chance. Ivanoff was no fool, he knew that taking the boy for himself would make the Malfoys his enemies for life, his only chance was to keep the boy at his side and use him to make sure they got the protection of the Veela Councils who would do anything to protect the family of such a powerful member of their society. With the boy missing he would have not only the Malfoys as his sworn enemies but also every single member of every single Veela family in the world. The only possible way to obtain forgiveness for breaking a claim was to establish a claim of his own with one of the involved parties and produce offspring.

Instead of doing that he had just become the one who plotted to take away a claimed submissive and caused the said submissive to go missing. Ivanoff knew that he had to find the raven-haired beauty or he was as good as dead.

Using his hunting skills, Ivanoff began his search on the spot he had seen the submissive enter the forest but as the sun began to descend and the daylight grew weaker, Ivanoff had to admit that he was off his game and that he had already taken a couple of wrong turns, almost getting lost himself. He started to realize that he was not getting out of this one as easily as he had planned.

This situation demanded a change of plans. By now the Parkinson girl was being held by the Council representative for further examination, but it was only a matter of time before they found out about her baby not being a Malfoy. Once they did that, she would crack and tell them everything what would make them come running after him.

Ivanoff forced himself to think beyond his first instincts. Those were the ones telling him to run and hide. Taking deep breaths, Ivanoff forced himself to think.

If nobody knew of his involvement yet, perhaps he could make a run for it. Disappear before they came looking for him, but that would compromise his sons’s situation. If the Ivanoffs suddenly became _persona non-grata_ at the gatherings, Sergey and Leon would never find suitable mates and the future of his family would be compromised. So running would not be an option unless he had his chosen mate with him to reopen the doors of the Veela community to his family afterwards.

The chances of that happening were looking smaller by the second.

His only other option was to stay… not an attractive option, but one that could actually work with a minimum of pain and humiliation, if those couldn’t be avoided all together. If he didn’t find the submissive before anybody else he would have to play innocent and pretend he had nothing to do with this situation. The one weak point in this scenario was the submissive Parkinson… unless he found a way to quietly dispose of the stupid creature.

A distant howl made him shiver and remember all the warnings he got from Albus Dumbledore about the many dangers that lurked in the forest and that helped him make up his mind, there was no point in risking losing his life in a fruitless search in the dark, he had to go back and minimize the damage Parkinson could be doing. After that he would just do the best he could with whatever the fates decide to throw his way.

\----------

Pansy Parkinson looked worried towards the locked door of her room. She had been practically thrown in there after the press conference without anybody saying more than two words to her. That was not the treatment she was expecting as the future Lady Malfoy.

Sure, Draco had kicked and screamed, but she was expecting as much. It was quite the bomb she had thrown on his lap. Pretty soon he would have to calm down listen to reason, she was a pregnant submissive and had named him as father of her child, that meant they had to be married before the day was over.

Oh, he would be mad at her for a few months, sure, especially because it was not his child, but then he would remember that they were always meant to be together and forgive her for doing something so dramatic to keep him from marrying the wrong person. In time he could even learn to love their first child and it would all be perfect, like it was meant to be.

She could still hear the angry voices outside but forced herself to remain calm. Eventually they would calm down and this whole thing would blow over.

The door suddenly open and Sage Parkinson came inside before the door was slammed shut again. The two Parkinson women faced each other. Pansy couldn’t stop a small smile to show on her face, she knew the look on her mother’s face, she was mad, and with good reason, Pansy had succeeded where her mother had failed. Pansy would marry up, way up.

They stayed in silence for almost a minute staring each other down. Than, without a word, her mother came up to her and slapped her in the face. Hard!

“What did you do that for?”

“Are you really that stupid?” spat her mother.

“Careful with what you say, mother, or I won’t have you at the manor after I’m married,” threatened Pansy.

“Merlin,” smirked Sage Parkinson, “you ARE that stupid. You must have got it from your father, my side of the family in known to have more brains than that.”

“How dare you?” Pansy was seeing red, nobody was giving her the respect she deserved. Her mother looked at her and tried a different approach.

“Pansy, you listen to me, young lady.” She said in a calmer tone of voice.

“No, mother, _you_ listen to _me_.” Defied Pansy, “I am the future Lady Malfoy. I will be the most important woman in wizarding society and you will not stand in my way!”

“And what about Potter?”

“Soon he will be married to… someone else and hopefully long gone from here.”

“Then for your sake I hope your baby is all you claim it to be, because if he is not, no power on earth will save you from the Malfoy wrath.”

“Don’t be silly, mother, once this baby is born Draco will be so pleased with his heir he will…”

“That is the whole point, isn’t it? The baby being Draco’s heir.” Sage grabbed Pansy by shoulder and forced her to look her in the face, “All I’m saying is that this child better be his heir alright or you’ll find yourself in the street with no name of your own, a bastard in your arms and, if I know the Malfoys, a price tag to your head.”

“They would never cause a scandal”

“Really? Is that your security blanket? Draco falling for some child you will throw on his lap?” Sage couldn’t help herself, she laughed, “Do you really think the Malfoys would condone with that crime?”

“Crime? Now you’re going too far on your wishful thinking, mo…”

“PANSY! Don’t tell me you didn’t even read the books!”

“… What books?”

“The books I sent you through out the whole year, you silly bint. The ones about Veela and wizarding laws”

“Oh, those books. Mother, you know I have no interests in becoming a lawyer.”

Slap

“Stop doing that!”

“Tell me you’ve read some of those books, tell me you know that interfering with a established claim is a crime punishable with prison in the Wizarding World and with death in the Veela society. Tell me you know that once you marry into another family you belong to them and forfeit your former family name.”

“What?”

“The only thing that remains, Pansy dear, is an alliance between the families. Who do you think your father will side with if it is proven that you interfered with a claim and knowingly tried to pass the child of one Dominant as the child of another? You… or the Malfoy family?”

“You’re lying,” Pansy yelled desperately, “ever since day one the other Dominants wanted to challenge Draco’s claim over the tramp and take him away.”

“Yes, challenge the claim, prove themselves more deserving of the Submissive’s attention than the one who had claimed him. Not disrespect our laws and tarnish the engagement season.”

“Draco will love me once we are married.”

“He will kill you with his bare hands once it is proven that the child is not his and that you cost him his chosen mate.”

“….” Pansy could only stare at her mother dumbfounded.

“Your only chance, and trust me on this one, it _is_ your only chance! Is to go to the real father of your child, I hope you know who it is, and get him to marry you.”

Pansy starts to say something but her mother silenced her.

“If you marry Draco, he _will_ make you suffer until he can prove it’s not his child. Then he will take you before the council and demand for the situation to be fixed. Best case scenario? Your marriage will be over and you’ll be all alone to find a way to raise your child. My bet? Malfoys are not forgiving and you will be either dead or on the run. Think about it,” offered Sage before knocking on the door to be let out, “and think about who would stand by your side against the Malfoys if that ever came to pass.”

Pansy tried to downplay her mother’s words but a sinking feeling on her stomach made her run to her trunk and fish out the books her mother had sent her. For hours she checked the laws of both Wizarding and Veela worlds and found out that her mother was right – if a Submissive did what she was doing the consequences were annulment of the marriage, dishonor and, if the offended party demanded, physical punishment and even death could be applied. If a Dominant was the one who committed the crime, the Submissive could chose to annul the wedding or not, but even them, the submissive’s original family would take him or her back along with a monetary compensation. There was no dishonor since it was a defenseless submissive falling prey to a Dominant. There were even laws against domestic violence where the Dominant could lose his submissive... Pansy read until her head felt like it was about to explode. The laws were clear, the submissive was protected against undue violence, other than that, the claim, bond and family lines were sacred and punishment was brutal.

The worse part was to realize that if she was found out… no, there was no avoiding that, _when_ she was found out she would take all the blame and suffer the consequences and the Dominant involved would get away with it. He didn’t commit any crimes, everything would fall on her head.

Pansy knew right then that she was is a huge amount of trouble and worse; that she had been set up. She would have to work real fast if she wanted to find a way out of this situation. Taking a deep breath she knocked on the door and asked for the only person she could think would help her in a time like this. She called for Albus Dumbledore.

\----------


	13. Chapter 13

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Chapter 13**

**Author’s Note:** This was supposed to be two different chapters but since I’m sooooo behind schedule I’m posting as a single one.

I’m trying to get VIP done before Christmas. Keep your fingers crossed.

\------------

Molly Weasley had experienced a few scares in her life. Mother of six boys, two of them being Frederick and George, certainly gave her more than a few white hairs. And besides all the regular problems a normal teenager boy would get himself into, Ginny’s disappearing act in her first year kept her up nights in a row, Arthur being bitten by the Dark Lord’s snake was something she would never forget and still brought tears to her eyes and that blasted boggart at Grimmauld Place had really done a number on her, she would never tell anybody but that was the closest she had come of giving up fighting, somehow she had managed to pull herself together and kept on going, but now Harry was missing.

Merlin, he was missing.

He had vanished from the school grounds and not even Ron or Hermione could find him and they could always find each other in a matter of minutes inside Hogwarts. It was like they had tracking spells on themselves or maps telling each other where they were all the time. And now he was gone.

One second, she took her eyes off of him for just one second to talk to that nice Russian man, Ivanoff, and the next thing she knew Pansy was on stage claiming to be expecting Draco Malfoy’s child, everybody was on their feet and Harry was nowhere to be seen.

In the commotion that took place afterwards there were people running in and out of the room, moving from one little group to another and she simply lost track of him.

Molly wasted no time in running to the headmaster and discretely telling what had happened. The two of them plus Sirius, Remus, Minerva, Pomona and Sinistra had immediately split up and began to search for the boy but by then he was already nowhere to be found. They searched until Dumbledore was alerted that somebody was requesting his presence in his office.

It was the Parkinson girl and her mother. What could they want now? And it was getting dark already. Where could Harry be?

While the headmaster attended to the meeting in his office, Molly, Sirius, Remus, the rest of the staff and quite a few Gryffindors upper classmen got together to organize search parties. They had to find Harry.

\----------

Pierre Raulli was terrified. He was a very proper and a fairly easy going man from an old and respectful Veela family and had worked real hard his whole life to become a representative for the High Veela Council. A position he was particularly proud of obtaining and dead set on improving. The gatherings that he and his team put together were slowly but surely gaining prestige and were known for their good taste and flawless organization. Soon he would be THE head representative for the Council, responsible for all the gatherings and controlling over 35 teams like the one he had now all over Europe. It was just a matter of time… if he could control this new situation, that is.

It was always on his hands to solve any disputes that could arise in a gathering and, in five years of service his records were spotless. Not that it had been an uneventful five years, mind you, he had one Dominant that insisted on challenging a claim by another Dominant even after a child was conceived and the submissive in question married, one or two submissives that had changed their minds on the morning after – that would usually involve a third party with whom the said submissive was involved beforehand and even a family whose Veela blood was no longer acknowledged showing up for the gathering without being invited and insisting on participating, that had been a nightmare, but now… now all his previous problems seemed like a walk in the park on a sunny day.

First a submissive showed up out of nowhere and was dragged into the gathering, or rather he dragged the gathering into the forest. They simply had no record of this submissive or his family, apparently his mother was a muggleborn and his pureblood father didn’t have any Veela blood in him. A mystery! And Pierre Raulli hated mysteries when it came to his gatherings and his record keeping, but they could survive that. A flaw, yes, but nothing life shattering.

Then, this mysterious submissive turns out to be not only perfectly pure and very powerful but also the-boy-who-lived as well, that would certainly make it so they would not be able to keep the matter between themselves like they would prefer in a case of faulty records but rather it would make the front pages of every Wizarding and Veela publication no matter what they did… and not only that, but the submissive in question managed to be claimed by Draco Malfoy himself! The claiming of the decade had happen at one of _his_ gatherings.

Last night he had spent hours in conference with the High Council and they decided to do the only mildly acceptable thing available. Since they couldn’t cover it up, they would make a huge production out of it, playing with the Wizards romantic idea of the Veela. They would proudly present the lost child returning to his rightful place, finding love and the whole life altering thing witches loved so much… the whole fairy tale.

It all seemed to be working well too. They were using a small amount of their Veela allure to keep the public attention focused on the table for dramatic purposes. It would make the announcement of ‘the Harry Potter’ claiming even more memorable because nobody would know he was there and it would come as a total surprise… without taking away the attention of the press from the other announcements to be made. It was perfect.

And then that… that… that glamorized parrot had to jump in front of everyone and make a scene out of herself claiming to be carrying the next Malfoy baby. Malfoy baby his… well, it was not proper to say that, was it? The point was, she could even be pregnant, but Pierre saw no claiming marks on her neck and he knew that Malfoys did nothing by half. If Draco had indeed made that baby, his mark would be clear on her neck for the whole world to see. Malfoys did not share.

Well, it didn’t matter now, the damage was done. Once her allegations become public he had no choice but to play by the rules. A full inquiry would have to be made and the existence and paternity of the baby proven without a doubt before the week was over. A full committee was on its way to Hogwarts at that very moment to see to that. It was only a matter of time now.

If the baby was indeed Malfoy’s, they had a wedding to arrange. If not, they had a trial and Merlin knows what else to arrange as well. The Veela reputation could take a serious beating over this one and the fact that the boy-who-lived was one of them could go from the social revelation of the year to the social scandal of the year in a blink. If this… girl had managed to somehow foil Potter’s first mating the whole wizarding world would be yelling rape at the top of their lungs no matter what they did next.

Pierre Raulli straightened his robes and hair, positioning himself in front of the fireplace in a chamber next to the Great Hall which had been connected to the floo network specifically for this purpose and waited for the committee members who were starting to arrive.

An hour later, Raulli was ready to pass out. Instead the normal five members of the dispute board, no less than 25 Veela had come through the fire. The Council members were only the first to arrive, soon after them, family representatives and unattached dominants from all the most important families regally stepped out of the fireplace.

Raulli was doing his best to not to jump up and down like a commoner. Every single major family of Europe was represented in the room. The social drums must have been beating like mad telling everyone that the most powerful submissive of the century (if not more, in his humble opinion) could be free for the claiming.

If that was the case, the Council would demand the submissive to be taken to the maze one more time and they would start the whole process over. Raulli quickly checked who was in the room and reassessed the situation, judging by the people in this room, the decision was already made, if they could find a single reason for it no matter how small, they would demand a new chance for claiming the submissive.

It would be the gathering of the millennia and he was organizing. It was the chance of a life time. Careers were made or destroyed in such occasions.

Just as they closed the floo connection a knock on the door caught their attention. It was a house-elf with a note from the headmaster. The submissive Potter was reported missing and search groups were being organized to search for him. Pierre Raulli felt like all the blood had been drained out of his body. He had lost the submissive of the century. There was no way his career would survive that blow.

“Gentlemen,” Chevalier Lannes, head of the current head representative for the High Council spoke up, “We must find this child, it’s unacceptable to lose him again so soon after he was found. No dominant currently involved in the gathering season will take part on the search as it would not be proper, we still don’t know if his previous claim is still valid. Everyone else report to the entrance hall where the groups are being organized. Monsieur Raulli, please see that all the dominants are escorted to their quarters then find me so we can go over all the details for tomorrow, I want to see what you have prepared for this gathering.”

“Of course, Chevalier Lannes,” Raulli agreed with his superior as fast as he could and gesturing for the dominants to follow him, he took the young men to the dominant’s quarters, pleased that headmaster Dumbledore had provided them with more rooms than they originally needed. He would be able to complete his task in record time and meet the head representative before the man would expect him to be able to, that would make a good impression for sure.

There was only one black cloud in his horizon. Where could Potter have gone to?

\-------

Draco Malfoy was ready to murder someone, he had almost managed to land a blow on that stupid Parkinson but his father held him back. It didn’t matter, soon enough she would be within arms reach and no one would stand between him and his revenge.

After the absurd announcement Parkinson had sprung on them, he had been taken out of the room and into a smaller side chamber ‘to cool down’. Darn it, he hadn’t even been allowed to talk to Harry and tell him it was all a lie. What if Harry believed Parkinson’s lies? No, he wouldn’t. His parents wouldn’t let Harry believe that, they would talk to Harry and make sure he knew it was nothing but a bunch of lies. Everything would be all right.

They kept him in there for almost one hour. He was ready to blast the door into oblivion when it finally opened, letting a scowling Lucius Malfoy in followed by a distressed Narcissa.

“Father, I give you my word that I have never touched Pansy.” Draco hurried to inform his father.

“I believe you, son,” Lucius said as soon as the door was closed behind them, “That is not the problem. The problem is that unless we dismiss these ludicrous claims as fast as we can the other dominants will think Potter is free for the taking and THAT could become a problem.”

“They will not take my mate!” Draco yelled as he tried to reach the door. Lucius was holding him down before he could take more than a few steps.

“Nobody will take your mate,” he reassured the struggling teen, “We will not permit it but you have to calm down. No Malfoy will make a spectacle of himself.”

Lucius held Draco tightly for a few minutes until he felt the teen start to relax on his arms and knew his son was getting his temper under control.

“What are they planning to do?” asked a much more controlled Draco.

“They won’t do anything until this matter with Parkinson is explained. If she manages to prove the baby is yours they will demand that you marry her and that Potter is declared free from any previous claim. They will demand that he is taken back into the maze and all the dominants will try to establish a claim of their own.”

“They will never lay their hands on Harry and it is not my baby!”

“Good, then it’s one less thing for us to worry about. I believe we will be able to have the first hearing tomorrow morning and we’ll press for a paternity spell to be performed right away, with some luck this problem will be solved before lunch tomorrow.”

“Can I see Harry?” Draco asked his parents. He wanted to explain things himself to his submissive before the gossipers got to him.

“No, I’m afraid the Council will keep Harry away from all dominants, you included, until they know what to make of this mess Parkinson created.” Lucius pondered.

“I’ll talk to him,” Narcissa said, “They won’t prevent him from receiving all visitors and I’m a submissive. It should be alright. I’ll make sure he knows how you feel about all this, Draco.”

“Thank you, mother,” Draco smiled at Narcissa, “It means the world to me.”

Narcissa’s answer was cut off by the noise of a house-elf popping in the room and handing Lucius a note.

“What is it, father?”

“Nothing,” Lucius lied hiding the note in his pocket and exchanging a pointed look with Narcissa, “Narcissa, why don’t you and Draco retire for the night? Nothing else will be accomplished tonight and we will need out wits tomorrow when facing the Council.”

“Of course, dear,” Narcissa agreed, she had been married to Lucius long enough to know that look, “come along, Draco. Walk me to our quarters. I do feel the need to lay down.”

Draco, too distraught to notice anything amiss, ruled the note as a dark lord related matter and stood to escort his mother. They went to their rooms and Lucius hurried to the entrance hall to find out more about what was going on with his future son-in-law and why they were forming search parties.

\-----------

Dumbledore looked across the table to the blond girl sobbing in the armchair in front of his desk while her mother paced behind her. He was actually sorry for the poor child, she was led to believe that once she announced her pregnancy everything else would fall into place and she would be married to Draco Malfoy, who later would love her back and her life would be perfect. She had broken down once she learned the real consequences of her acts and had been crying ever since.

How could Malfoy have done such a thing? He seemed so intent on having Harry as his spouse. No, there was something else to this, Draco did want Harry for himself, Albus knew that much, and there was something… a thought swimming just below the surface in the girl’s mind that kept calling his attention. It was just a glimpse that had hit him before he could erect his own barriers.

That was a problem with Legilimency, Dumbledore pondered, once you mastered it you had to keep constant control over yourself or surface thoughts of all of those around you would find their way into your mind. It was like trying to control a flood after the dam was broken. It had taken him years to build his barriers with Occlumency so he could control his own ability and not invade everybody’s privacy, but right now Dumbledore felt this could very well be the key to this whole situation so he let his control slip a little and open his mind for any thoughts the young witch in front of him could be broadcasting out in her distress.

“Now, Miss Parkinson,” he said in a friendly tone trying to calm the witch down and make eye contact with him, “I’m sure we can solve this situation. Draco Malfoy would not turn his back on his own child. Family always comes first with him, you know that.”

“Oh, sir,” Pansy sobbed raising her head, “it’s not that simple.”

“It never is, child, but it’s never as complicated as our fears make it look either. Why don’t we talk it over and see what we can do?”

“Ok,” she sobbed, “it started on the first day of the gathering. Draco never came to my tent as he was supposed to. We have been engaged ever since we were babies!”

“How can you still believe that, Pansy?” Sage Parkinson snapped dangerously close to losing her temper, “Did you ever read any of the books I sent you?”

“Miss Parkinson, you know that as a Veela, Mr. Malfoy could not be engaged to anybody before the gathering,” Dumbledore intervened before things got out of hand.

“But… the mating is just a step in the whole thing, isn’t it? We are engaged!” the blond girl said hopefully.

Mrs. Parkinson threw her hands up in a gesture of despair and Dumbledore sighed. Who taught this girl about the Veela habits and law?

“In a way, but the engagement you refer to, Miss Parkinson, is the Veela vow to marry their children with Veela descendents only. A group arrangement rather than a personal one.” The elder wizard explained trying to figure out what was going on.

“Oh, he said my wedding to Draco was a sure thing!” she whined.

“Who said that, Miss Parkinson?” Dumbledore delved just a bit more into her thoughts trying to figure out who was this mysterious person and the elusive thought that kept surfacing in her mind.

“It doesn’t matter. He said that once Draco was confronted with my pregnancy he would do the honorable thing and marry me to avoid the scandal.” Pansy stated firmly, “Well, I’m pregnant and he has to marry me.”

Sage launched at her daughter ready to slap some sense into her but Dumbledore held out his hand stopping her. He didn’t use magic, just his authority on this one, it was nice to know he could still command such respect.

“Child, is Mr. Malfoy the father of your child?” he asked gently, “because if he is not he could cause you some serious pain and on your child.”

“But you can talk to him, sir,” Pansy asked fervently not answering his question, “You can tell him to marry me and stop this whole inquiry thing. He won’t say no to you!”

“No, child, I can’t.” the elderly wizard was really sadden by how deluded the girl was, but there was nothing that he could do, she set herself up for a very rude awakening, “if anybody forces young Mr. Malfoy to marry you and he is not the father of this child, it is within his rights to kill it after the birth and you would lose your status as his mate. One dominant can accept to raise the child of another, but he can not be forced or fooled into it.”

Pansy could only stare at the Headmaster in shock. He was her last hope. She figured that since the Veela laws would protect the claim already made, the Headmaster being old and powerful would force Draco’s hand and coerce him into marring her because of ‘her honor’ was at stake, but now even him was turning her down, after all she had been through, after all she had done, all the risks she had taken…

“Tell me about the bracelet, Ms. Parkinson.” The headmaster demanded, his voice was still kind but it was an order none of the less.

“I don’t know what you mean, sir.” Pansy tried to avoid the question, but fear was clear in her eyes.

“What bracelet?” demanded Sage Parkinson. Her patience was quickly running out, didn’t the stupid girl realized that with what she was doing she would drag the Parkinson name in the mud? It could be the end of any social ambition for the family not to mention any worthy match for their youngest daughter, Violet.

“During the interview, Ms. Parkinson here placed a bracelet in Harry’s pocket just before he left the room,” Dumbledore explained pretending to know everything when in fact he had just seen a flash in the distraught girl’s mind and decided to go fishing for information, maybe with the right incentives he could direct her thoughts to what he wanted to know, he would only have to play his cards right to do it.

“It was nothing, a trinket,” Pansy tried to make them believe but her whole demeanor screamed that they had indeed stumble into something.

“Pansy Elisabeth Parkinson, you answer that question with the truth this time or so help me the gods I will see that you regret the day you set foot in this world.” Yelled Sage Parkinson at her infuriating daughter.

“Miss Parkinson, that bracelet was no mere trinket and you know it,” Dumbledore tried in a much calmer tone of voice, now that he knew he was in the right path the glimpse inside the girls mind were becoming clearer and much more detailed, “There is also the small conversation you had with Harry just before he left. It would help you situation a great deal if you came clean on your own before we had all the details through others.”

“I’m just doing what is best for my child,” stated Pansy trying to show more confidence than she actually felt at the moment.

“And the best thing for your child is to tell the true, Ms. Parkinson. Consider all you know about Mr. Malfoy and his family. Do you really believe they will accept another man’s child as their heir?” Dumbledore knew he was taking a risk saying the child was not a Malfoy since Pansy had not admitted to it yet, but he had the feeling their time was running short and he needed to do something about it.

“They will never do anything to cause a scandal,” Pansy stated firmly, that much she knew, the Malfoys would avoid any scandals as long as they could help.

“Like marrying a girl pregnant with another man’s child, you mean?” Sage Parkinson snapped.

“The Veela Council always makes sure that all submissives impregnated during the gatherings get married,” Pansy quoted, it was true and everybody knew it.

“Yes, and they cast every known paternity spell to make sure that happens,” Sage smirked at the utterly shocked look in her daughters face.

“Paternity spells?”

“You didn’t think anybody would take your word for it and that would be it. Did you?” Sage really could not believe how thick her daughter had turned out to be.

“What… what will happen to me?” asked Pansy with tears starting to run down her face, “what will happen now?”

“Well, the spell will tell the Council if the baby is Draco’s or not. If it is his, they will force him to marry you. If it’s not his baby, he will be free to marry whoever he wants.” Dumbledore informed her.

“The spell will not tell them who the father really is,” Sage Parkinson added in a more controlled tone of voice, it was time to get information out of Pansy if she wanted to save the family name, “is too soon for that, a spell used this early in the pregnancy will only compare the baby’s magic to the magic of another person and tell if they are related or not, but you need the other person present in the same room for that to work. To find out who the father is without testing a specific man for it, we need to wait until the baby is born.”

“But… but what will happen to me if Draco is not the father?” Pansy asked franticly. Dumbledore and Sage Parkinson exchanged a look and Sage answered.

“There will be a scandal, the Parkinson name will take a serious beating. If I know your father, you will be disowned and kicked out of the house, and Draco will marry Harry Potter just like he wanted to.”

“Child,” Dumbledore called softly, “There is only one way for us to help you now, you have to tell us everything. Let’s start with the bracelet you placed in Harry’s pocket, what was in it?”

“It was a _confundus_ spell,” sobbed Pansy, “he said that it would be easier for my plan to work if Harry was out of the picture.”

Dumbledore paled considering all the reasons why somebody would want Harry out of the way. It could be Voldemort’s latest plan for all he knew.

“Who is ‘he’, Ms. Parkinson?” he asked.

“Ivanoff, he said he would help me get Draco.”

“Is he the father of your child?” Dumbledore asked.

“Yes, I went looking for him the night Draco claimed Harry. He had business with my father last summer and told me he wanted to marry again. I figured that if he married Harry he would take him back to his homeland and Draco would forget all about his claim… but Mr. Ivanoff said that we would need something else to convince Draco to let go. I had to be pregnant so the Council would force Draco to marry me.”

“And the bracelet?”

“I had to put it in Harry’s pocket so I could convince him to go to the forest retrieve the basket with potion ingredients he left in there. Ivanoff would go with him and claim him.”

“Is Harry in the forest?” Dumbledore asked picking up parchment and a quill to write down a note.

“I think so.” Said Pansy with tears still running on her face.

“You stupid…” Sage Parkinson could barely control herself, her daughter was pregnant and the father was probably on his way to the Urais right now with Harry Potter firmly held by his side and her family was on its way to social ostracism. “Who will marry you now? Who will marry your sister Violet now? Did you really thing this would work? How stupid can you possibly be?”

“Now, now, Mrs. Parkinson. There is no need for that,” smiled Dumbledore after consulting the school wards for a moment, “Mr. Ivanoff has just returned from the forest alone and is heading for his quarters as we speak. Perhaps you would like a word with him before the Council is informed of all the details? I’m sure it will all work out in the end. Ms. Parkinson, I would like you to go to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey will be expecting you to make sure all this commotion didn’t affect your baby. Go on now. I’ll join the rest of the staff in the entrance hall to search for Harry.”

Dumbledore walked with the two Parkinson women down the stairs and sent them to their destinations. After making sure that they were doing what he had suggested he hurried downstairs to meet with the others and share the news of Harry’s where abouts. Now that they knew where to search he hoped it wouldn’t be long before they found the boy.

\----------

Harry had been only half watching the press conference, he was just too nervous to concentrate. He could see Draco sitting with his family and flashed from earlier that day kept popping in his mind. How did he let thing get so out of hand? How dare Draco use that ‘call’ or whatever it was on him? He needed to talk to Hermione about that, there had got to be a way to resist that like he could resist the _imperious._

Someone brushed against him but he paid no mind. There was simply too much on his mind at the moment. Suddenly he noticed Pansy Parkinson at his side.

“I suppose congratulations are in order,” she offered sweetly.

“hm… thank you,” answered Harry politely giving her a side glance.

“It’s so nice that you managed to be here, claimed and all,” Pansy continued, “and to think all of this come out of a detention where you were suppose to collect some _very important potion ingredients_ for professor Snape. Did he ever thank you for those _very important potion ingredients_? I remember that he was _desperately needing_ those.”

“Oh, no,” Harry’s eyes went wide when he remembered the abandoned basket in the forest, “I forgot to bring back the herbs!”

“Harry! That is terrible!” said Pansy looking chocked, “You know how professor Snape gets when we fail to follow his instructions. You have to do something.”

“What can I do?” Harry was getting desperate.

“If you sneak out of here now nobody will notice you gone for some time and you’ll be able to fetch the ingredients and deliver them before getting into even more trouble.”

“I don’t…”

“Harry, go.” Urged Pansy, “I’ll cover for you.”

Harry stopped for half a second, it did sound like a good plan and he had to get those ingredients, Snape would skin all the Gryffindors alive if he didn’t complete the task he was given for detention. _He had to go, it was the most important thing at the moment and of course he would be back in time._

“Ok, thank you, Pansy,” whispered Harry already leaving the great hall.

Once outside he broke in to a run straight to the Forbidden Forest and came to a halt just after he had passed the first trees trying to remember where he had the basket last. He knew he had it with him when he took off flying, he had been so shocked at the time that he forgot to let go of it. He had flown with it for about two minutes before a sharp turn made him drop it so he could hold his broom with both hands.

Confident that he knew where exactly he had dropped the basket, Harry entered the forest without a second thought and hurried to the place he believed his basket was with all the herbs he was supposed to collect for Snape.

After walking what it seemed to be the right distance in the right direction Harry began to search for it not noticing the fast approaching night. He jumped over some bushes and his cloak got caught pretty bad, forcing him to remove it in order to disentangle it from the thorns. A loud ripping sound told him that he was not being as successful as he wanted.

He saw a gold glint as something fell out of his pocket and bent over to catch whatever it was but a faint magic aura emanating from it stopped his hand.

“What the…” Harry blinked examining the object as close as he dared without touching it. There was definitely a spell on the golden chain that fell from his pocket, but how did it get there? And more important, where the hell was he and why in Merlin’s name did he think that going into the forest all by himself was such a good idea?

A howl sounded in the forest forcing Harry to spring into action. He had to go back to the school or find a safe place to spend the night at the very least. He franticly tried to remember if the moon was full that night or not. He was so not ready to face a werewolf alone in the woods.

‘ _No, the moon was not full_ ’, he decided. ‘ _One less thing to worry about. Now all I have to do was go back… on a second thought, all I have to do now is find a safe place to sleep since I have no idea which way Hogwarts is and it’s already getting dark. Safety first.’_

Harry decided when he noticed he had no way of finding his way back in the dark. Sighing in resignation, Harry began to search for a safe place to spend the night.


	14. Chapter 14

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Chapter 14**

**Author’s note:** It has been so long that I feel we all need a little reminder of what is going on. I know I do - my memory is horrible.

**Day 01** – Harry and Ron are serving detention and have to go to the Forbidden Forest to collect a few potion ingredients for Snape. The day happens to be the same one the Veela families are having an “engagement party” on the grounds. Harry turns out to be a Veela submissive and Draco manages to claim him. They spend the night in the room of requirement. Pansy was not happy and plans to do something about it.

**Day 02** – Harry and Draco are checked over by Mme. Pomfrey and have breakfast with Draco’s parents. They all attend the second day of the gathering, now only as spectators. Draco and his friends attend a D.A. meeting and Draco kisses Harry. Harry and Ron invite Mrs. Weasley to be Harry’s chaperone.

**Day 03** – Breakfast with the Malfoys again. Remus, Sirius and Molly arrive at Hogwarts. Draco uses ‘the call’ to lure Harry away from his chaperone. Harry goes to his new room with Molly and later they attend a press conference. Pansy slips a bracelet with a confundus charm in Harry’s pocket and send him into the Forbidden Forest to be claimed by Ivanoff but the plan goes wrong. Ivanoff comes back alone and Harry gets lost.

And now for a new chapter…

\------------ 

**Day 03 – Night time.**

Sage Parkinson wasted no time in reaching Ivanoff’s quarters. She took a brief moment to make sure she was presentable and knocked on the door. Ivanoff opened it himself just a minute later and paled seeing who was in the hallway.

“Good evening, Mikael. May I have a word with you?”

“Sage. What a pleasant surprise. Please come in,” Ivanoff stepped aside inviting the woman in while preparing for the conversation they were about to have. He wondered how much she knew already.

“So, where is he?” the witch asked looking around the room. She knew Harry wasn’t there but decided to go for maximum dramatic effect in order to solve the situation as soon as possible. She would scare the man in doing what she wanted.

“Where is who, my dear?” Ivanoff tried to stall the conversation.

“Why, Mr. Potter, of course.” Sage said playing along with their little game, “I would imagine that after going through so much trouble getting my daughter pregnant and convincing her to plant a _confundus_ charm on the boy, he would be here spotting a rather large new claiming mark on his neck…”

“My dear, I assure you…” Ivanoff tried to come up with some sort of explanation but Sage cut him to it.

“But he is not here, is he?” she offered him a sweet smile, “you came back alone from the forest. My, my. Mikael Ivanoff managed to lose his prey. Not on top of your game, are you, my dear?”

“Sage…” he tried again but she would have none of that.

“Now, the most sought after submissive of the season is lost in the Forbidden Forest because of you. The Malfoys won’t be pleased, neither will the High Council. I wonder what they will do to you when they learn of this little… game of yours.” Sage made a show of inspecting the dust on top of the fireplace mantle with the tip of her fingers. 

“What do you want, Sage?” asked Ivanoff knowing that he was in the witch’s hand.

“I want to offer you your only way out of this mess, Mikael,” Sage had dropped the pleasant façade and her face was hard and unforgiving, “You’ll call the Council representatives. Yes, they are all here. You’ll call them and claim Pansy and her child. Not a word about your involvement with Mr. Potter’s current situation will be uttered. You and Pansy will marry quietly and take the night train out of here before anybody makes the association of your names with this mess.”

Ivanoff could only nod. There was no other way out of this one and he knew it.

“Once you’re home, I expect to hear from my daughter at least twice a month. You almost got her killed, Mikael, and you almost got the Parkinsons black balled from all future gatherings, that is not something I’ll let go anytime soon. If marrying you was not her best chance as well, I’d never agree to this.”

“I see,” the wizard agreed, “but that won’t make the Malfoys forget.”

“No, it won’t,” Sage conceded, “but you live far enough for them not to go after you and by the time Pansy’s child is old enough to take part in a gathering, you will chose one where there will be no risks of running into them. I’m sure your grandchildren will have no problems with the Malfoys at all.”

Ivanoff gulped, he knew she was right. The Malfoys were not likely to forget what he tried to do and there was no question about them finding out, it was just a matter of time if he didn’t go along with Sage’s plan. The Witch was right, his best chance was to get as much sympathy from the Councils as he could and having a pregnant mate would go a long way with them, also, if he was lucky enough for HIS part on this fiasco to be overlooked, he would come out as the one who got Parkinson out of the way of the new couple.

“If I marry her,” he asked, “will my little contribution for this situation remain a secret?”

“Yes, of course,” Sage agreed, “there is no need to burn you both in the eyes of the Council and it will be much easier to forget the acts of a single misguided girl than the one of an ill intended couple. They will see you as the older mate who knocked some sense into her and in a few years she will simply be the one who did something foolish in her youth but matured after that.” 

“Then I formally request the honor of marrying the mother of my child.” Ivanoff said with a small bow to the woman in front of him.

“It will be our pleasure to see the joining of our two families,” Sage answered in the traditional way quite pleased with herself; the disaster that Pansy had created had been averted, for the most part, and she managed to secure a better match than she had hoped for for her daughter. All there was left now was to hope for Potter to make a safe return to the school, if he was not harmed it would all go away that much faster. “I leave you to see the details of the union with the Council, unless you would prefer that I’m the one to see to it?”

“I’ll talk to the Council,” Ivanoff decided, “See that my fiancée is presentable and bring her over in, shall we say, one hour?”

“One hour is more than acceptable, it will give you just enough time to catch the train afterwards,” Sage agreed, “Now, if you excuse me, I’ll see to my daughter.” 

“Mrs. Parkinson,” Ivanoff got up and took the witch’s hand to his mouth, kissing her knuckles.

“Mr. Ivanoff,” Sage offered with a small nod before leaving the room. She had a wedding dress to arrange and a distraught daughter to dose with a calming draught. 

\---------- 

The Council members gladly officiated the union pretending not to know the sordid details involved on the whole affair. Not that they ever knew all of it, Sage Parkinson worked very hard to keep the most gruesome details out of public knowledge, they only knew the basics and that was all they ever needed to know. They performed a standard paternity spell and confirmed that Mr. Ivanoff was the father of Ms. Parkinson’s baby and that was enough for them.

The ceremony was simple and very private; a note of participation would be issued later on informing of the union. There was absolutely no mood for a wedding celebration with such a large search going on, especially when one knew the sort of retribution the Malfoy boy could inflict upon the young mother to be as it was the general understanding that his submissive was missing due to the stress Ms. Parkinson’s abrupt statement in the press conference brought to him.

No, a small ceremony was best for all of those involved and the fact the newly weds were taking the night train to London was also viewed as a very wise move on their part.

\---------- 

**Day 04**

Day light found Harry sitting in the hollow of a tree trunk trying to shield himself against the cold rain while nursing a sprained ankle. It was his second day in the forest and he hadn’t moved an inch all day, figuring that with his ankle like that he wouldn’t make it very far in the pouring rain. He was still somewhat grateful that he had found this place last night just before it got too dark to see. It was a hollow deep and large enough for him to enter and sit almost comfortably a few feet above the ground, he actually had to climb a bit to get to it. It was also how he got a sprained ankle in the first place.

As it turned out, climbing a tree in the dark was not as fun or as easy as one would think. 

This place, however, was perfect for spending the night with some degree of security and comfort, until it started to rain that is. By the time he finally woke up because of the cold, his cloak, socks and shoes were already soaked and he was freezing. 

Harry wasted no time in casting an _impervious_ charm on his cloak and a few drying spells on everything that got wet. He also managed to remember a mild warming charm to cast on his socks but he didn’t dare a stronger one, if he messed that one up he could set something on fire and that was not a good idea, especially inside a tree. But now he was trapped in there, waking up all wet and cold during the night was not good for ones health as it seems.

Now, on top of his ankle, he had a cold, his body ached all over and he couldn’t stop coughing long enough to cast more than one spell at the time and even that would drain his energies like a fifteen minutes duel with Snape. Not to mention he was getting really hungry, his last meal had been lunch yesterday.

At least he was fairly dry sitting inside the tree; his cloak had been almost reduced to shreds but still helped some as long as he remained inside. There was simply no way it would offer him enough protection all by itself if he tried to make it back to Hogwarts, even if he could walk that far. His only option was to sit tight and wait until the storm was over. Hopefully that would happen before nightfall and he would be able to find his way back.

Unfortunately, the rain did not stop at all during that day and it rained most of the night as well. Not that Harry would be able to notice that, having finally fallen in a restless sleep still curled inside his precarious shelter and slowly developing a fever. 

\----------- 

That night in the headmaster’s office, a group of somber looking men sat together trying to think of new strategies to find the missing submissive. Snape was present but could contribute very little to the discussion, he was worried about a different problem they had. They had been searching all day with no sign of Potter and that was bad enough, but the fact that very soon he would have to report to Voldemort was even worse. 

“I can’t put it off much longer,” he said to no one in particular knowing the similar thoughts were going through everyone’s mind, “if I don’t report back to the Dark Lord and tell him that Potter is missing he will know where my loyalty really lies.” 

“Would that be so terrible?” asked Lucius from the chair he was sitting near the fireplace, “With the Malfoy family siding with Dumbledore from now on I’m sure there will be more than one Death Eater ready to lighten his sentence by acting as a spy.”

“No, that would be too risky,” answered Dumbledore, “with both of you exposed as spies, Voldemort will doubt every one else and go to any lengths to be sure of their loyalty. To put someone without any experience in spying or Occlumency in that position… I’m afraid we can’t risk it.”

“But what about Harry?” Sirius asked while Remus laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, “Voldemort won’t let go of the chance of catching Harry alone in the Forbidden Forest.”

“Wait another day,” Dumbledore finally broke the silence that had followed Sirius’s statement, “Tomorrow you may write Voldemort a brief note saying that Harry is missing but we are keeping an eye on you so you find yourself unable to go to him personally. Tell him there are search parties everywhere and make sure to tell him that they are heavily armed, that shall quell any ideas he might have of storming the forest looking for Harry and still buy us enough time to find the boy.” 

“He will still question me why did I take this long…” Snape shivered thinking about the dark lord fondness for torture.

“Tell him…” interrupted Dumbledore, “tell him you have approached Lucius saying that you have been considering changing sides for a long time now and that if your plan works he will get a spy inside the order, that shall please him enough. You may also say that we don’t exactly trust you yet but I’m tempted to take you up on that offer.”

“Yes, he has been insisting with me that I should gain your trust in order to better spy for him. That could work.” Snape agreed feeling a bit more relieved.

“Then I think we should all retire for the night,” said Remus, “the night team won’t be back for another several hours and we should be well rested to resume our search as early as possible tomorrow.” 

They all got up and said their good nights, leaving Dumbledore in his office. Once in the hallway, Sirius turned to Lucius, worried about how his godson’s mate was doing.

“How is Draco coping with all this?”

“He doesn’t know,” Lucius sighed tiredly, “The Council has decided, and I agree, that none of the unmated dominants are to know about what is going on. As far as they know we are still looking into Parkinson’s claims.” 

“Why is that?” asked Remus. 

“They would demand to be included on the search teams, Draco most of all, but once inside the forest they would forget anything about proper behavior and respect for the Council’s decision and start hunting for the submissive to mate with him and once that happened all hell would break lose.”

“They would fight to the death,” contribute Sirius, “the Council would not be able to control the claiming and Draco’s previous claim would be disregarded even before the Council has a chance to declare it null or not.”

“Yes, I can see how that would be a problem,” Remus nodded, “It could easily turn into a blood bath.”

“Precisely,” added Snape, “that is why they have not been included. Well, gentlemen, I’ll bid you good night. See you all first thing in the morning.”

The group said their good nights and parted their ways with heavy hearts. Sleep would not come easy for them that evening.

\----------- 

**Day 05**

It has been almost 48 hours since they first noticed that the submissive was missing and their luck could not be worse, it had been raining almost non stop for the past two days.

The search parties were scattered through the forest covering as much ground as they possibly could under the pouring rain that kept coming back every few hours. Each participant trying as hard as they could to find a trace of the missing boy but they knew nature was working against them on this one. 

The submissive had taken a shower just before the press conference and had used the scent dampening products and whatever physical trail he could have left had been washed by the rain long ago. The only good piece of news was that after two days the dampening products would start losing their efficiency and they would be able to scent the boy again.

Around lunch time Remus sat on the roots of a large tree somewhere deep inside the Forbidden Forest eating his cold meal and pondering how Harry kept getting himself in these situations. He hadn’t been this depressed in a real long time, they had no clue of where Harry could be and they were fast running out of time, two days was a long time for someone to be lost in a place as dangerous as the Forbidden Forest. 

Across the clearing from him, Snape suddenly took a sharp intake of breath drawing Remus attention. The potion master was looking up at the tree Remus was sitting on. Turning his head, the werewolf tried to see what had caught the other man’s attention and then he finally saw it. Dangling from an opening in the tree trunk, which looked like the hide out of some sort of animal, there was a deep green clot with a silver fastening, a traditional submissive’s robe. 

Throwing his food to the side, Remus quickly climbed to the opening followed closely by Snape and felt his heart skip a beat when he spotted the sleeping boy inside. 

“Harry,” he called softly while Snape shot red sparks in the air signaling their position to the others, “Harry, pup, it’s Remus. Wake up.”

Remus gently touched the boy’s shoulder, shaking him, but got no answer. Frowning, Remus touched Harry’s face. He was burning up and covered in sweat. 

“Severus, I need your help. He is unconscious,” yelled Remus taking out his outer robes to wrap around Harry. 

Working together, Remus and Snape managed to get Harry on the ground at the same time that some of the others started to arrive. 

“We have to take him to the hospital wing. I don’t have any fever reducing potions with me here and he will need some immediately.” 

“Can we float him?” asked a blond man who had just arrived, he was clearly a member of the Veela Council.

“We better not risk it,” Snape answered, “I can sense some protection spells still active on him. Another magical signature might react badly to them and cause even more damage. We will have to carry him.”

The group quickly gathered everything and with a couple of spell produced a stretcher, which was as close to casting a spell on Harry himself they dare to do, to help carry the unconscious submissive and made their way back to the school as fast as they could.

\--------- 

“How is he?” asked Narcissa when Lucius went back to their quarters. 

“Stable, but still unconscious,” Lucius sat by his mate, taking her hands into his, “they were able to control his fever and give him a nutrition potion but decided to let him sleep a bit longer.” 

“Thank Merlin,” Narcissa felt her body relaxing for the first time in days, but the scowl on her husband’s face told her that something else was wrong, “what are you not telling me, Lucius? Is there something wrong with Harry?”

“No, there is nothing wrong with him,” Lucius answered quickly, “but the Council has decided that he ran into the forest when Parkinson announced her pregnancy because he doesn’t fully trust Draco. Therefore they are granting him another chance in the maze.”

“What?” Narcissa could not believe her ears.

“Allegedly, they want to provide Harry with the option to accept a new dominant.”

“They can’t do that,” Narcissa got to her feet and began pacing around the room, she was furious, “the fact that he got lost in the forest has nothing to do with Draco.”

“I know that,” said Lucius exasperatedly, “and they know it was well, but they will not let this opportunity pass. The High Council went absolutely wild when they saw the boy, if you think they were trying to figure out where he came from before you have no idea what they are doing now. Blood samples are being shipped off to all the lower Councils; they have orders to discover his Veela family before the day is out, no matter what.”

“What are we going to do now?” asked Narcissa falling back into her chair. A knock on the door announced the arrival of Severus, Remus and Sirius, Narcissa turned to her somber looking husband, “Lucius?”

“They are here to help us with Draco. It’s time for him to know what is going on.” 

Narcissa simply nodded and moved closer to the potion cabinet. She would gladly leave to the much stronger men in the room the task of telling the young Veela dominant that others were about to try to claim his mate. She would just stand back and make sure they had plenty of healing potions. They would probably need a lot.

\---------- 

In the infirmary, Harry slept oblivious to the fact that Molly was watching over him and a group of four aurors stood guard by the door insuring him a safe rest.


	15. Chapter 15

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Author’s note:**

**IMPORTANT: I know it has been forever and a day but none of my fics are abandoned.** They might be taking a long time plus a few days between updates but I will complete each one of them.

Thank all of you for your reviews, I do read each and every one of them even if I fail to answer some of them.

And a very special thanks to Jinx, who once more managed to kick my muse in to working. The first time with our ‘a chapter for a chapter’ deal and now with our attempt to write a fic together. Thank you, thank you, thank you, you have just became my good luck charm. I hope I can return the favor.

\-----------

**Chapter 15**

The past five days in the outside world.

In the five days the world as Harry knew it was being turned upside down, the rest of the Wizarding World was also feeling some of the effects.

The first two days were fairly uneventful for the rest of the Wizarding World even with the fact that quite a few people were following the news to find out more about the Veela gathering taking place on the school grounds. Many of them just wanted to know what the rich and famous were up to these days, but some had a more vested interest in the matter. 

Some Veela families who elected not to take place on this particular gathering, for whatever reason, wanted to know about the new unions so to better plan for the next generation. It was never too early to begin forming alliances and future matches. Also, the ones with contacts in Hogwarts were receiving disturbing news about a mysterious very powerful submissive that showed up out of nowhere, the few who learned that this submissive was none other than Harry Potter had already begun research of their own to find out where his Veela blood came from, deeply frustrated by their previous decision of not attending the gathering.

The other members of the high society who happened not to have Veela blood wanted to know what possible changes could occur in their circles so they would know who to invite to each party, who should not be seated next to whom at the dinner table and there was, of course, the matter of how many robes to purchase for up coming weddings and participation balls. Some of them, who had children at Hogwarts were receiving disturbing news about Harry Potter taking part in the gathering. They began to wonder what that would mean to their little circle of rich and famous to have the son of a muggleborn amongst them. And how exactly did he manage to take part in the gathering? Would it be open to all the ‘good’ families from now on?

The social climbers wanted to know all they could as to better mingle with the higher circles and so become one of them. They all dreamt of one day being invited to all the parties and having their names in the papers as often and as effortlessly as the higher circles of their society seem to have.

And in an old manor in Little Hangleton, a certain Dark Lord couldn’t care less about the social comings and goings of overbearing parents and their obnoxious children as he poured over some ancient texts he had just acquired. His interest in the gathering boiled down to the fact that it was at Hogwarts which allowed him to have more of his people on the grounds although unable to do anything, and the fact that new alliances were being formed what would bring him more followers, maybe. Nothing that would need his attention anytime soon. 

The third day began almost as calm as the two before it, but that was about to change. As the Wizarding World’s social columnists made their way to Hogsmead and prepared for the press conference, Snape discreetly walked out of the school wards and apparated to the Dark Lord’s lair. Hastily navigating through Death Eater filled halls, Snape knocked on the door of Voldemort’s personal study where he found the Dark Lord pour concentrating on an assortment of books and parchments scattered over a large table. 

Snape sent a quick prayer to any deity that could be listening and dropped to one knee waiting for Voldemort to acknowledge him. 

As planned, Snape pretended to believe that the engagement between Draco and Potter was part of a plan to which he was not privy and, once he was sure Voldemort believed his ‘innocence’, he carefully made the Dark Lord believe Lucius was the spy all along. 

Snape returned to Hogwarts with the mission of keeping an eye on Lucius and Potter and reporting back to Voldemort. It would have worked beautifully and it would have bought them some time to plan better for the situation, but by the end of the press conference the Parkinson situation took them all by surprise and Harry Potter went missing.

It didn’t help that Sandra Willian’s personal assistant was fetching her a cup of tea when the whole scandal broke off and was outside the great hall when Molly informed Remus of Harry not being in the Great Hall anymore and how she thought it was due to the Parkinson girl’s claim. Fortunately, she never said ‘disappearance’ or everything could have gone much worse. 

As it was, every publication in the Wizarding World had something to say about how the Malfoy heir was engaged to Pansy Parkinson, something that would not have caused that much of a stir if not for Mrs. Willian’s article that added a few juicy details of how Draco Malfoy had played Harry Potter while producing the next Malfoy heir and how Harry Potter was spotted at the press conference wearing the traditional submissive’s robes and displaying a rather visible claiming mark on his neck but was now unavailable for comment. It was all it took for every eye in the Wizarding World to turn to the Veela gathering and Hogwarts. 

The quiet and somewhat refined atmosphere in Hogsmeade set by social reporters was suddenly torn apart by the arrival of what seemed to be every single reporter in the Wizarding World and their uncle. It all boiled down to one simple and fundamental detail, no matter how you looked at it, Harry Potter always sold well. 

The next two days were a political and strategic nightmare with all the representatives of the high council flooing in, ministry personal showing up and trying to take charge of the situation (something that the high council quickly made clear would not be happening), organizing and coordinating the search parties, keeping the students quiet, classes going and the press in the dark.

Even after Harry was found the situation didn’t calm down. The constant arrival of dominants after the decision of a new chase was made kept everybody on their toes. 

Through all this, Snape and Dumbledore made sure to keep the Dark Lord fed with just enough information to believe Snape was being kept under constant surveillance and was unable to approach the Malfoys or Potter, whose location was unknown to him. Snape couldn’t help but to notice the irony of the fact that at least the last part was actually the truth. 

**Still Day 5 – Malfoy quarters.**

Draco could hear the faint voices in the sitting room. His parents had visitors and that could mean news about Harry. Dropping the book he had been trying to read for the past two hours he rushed into the sitting room where he found his parents talking to Black, Lupin and Severus, by the look on their faces they did not have good news. Draco felt his blood run cold, if anything had happen to Harry…

“What happened?” 

“Lupin here found Harry,” Severus answered in his usual serious tone, “he had a sprained ankle and was running a fever, other than that he was fine. Pomfrey is keeping him sedated in the infirmary for today.”

“I have to see him,” Draco bolted for the door only to have his path cut by his godfather, “What?”

“There is something else, Draco. Please remain calm as we explain it to you,” Severus started gravely.

“What is it?” asked Draco quickly losing his temper.

“The Council was worried,” Lucius prompted attracting Draco’s attention away from Severus before he had the chance get physical, “they think that Harry ran into the forest either in shock because of Parkinson’s revelation or in an attempt to get away from you because he did not want the bond.”

“That is preposterous! Harry had no problems with my claim, everybody could see that.” Draco snarled. 

“Even so,” Lucius continued, “they have declared the claim null and that Harry is to be taken back into the maze. They have set a new gathering for the day after tomorrow when all the unmated dominants may try to claim Potter.”

Draco answered that with a growl. It started low almost too hard to hear and grew at an alarming rate as he bolted for the door. 

Nobody tried to get in to his path, as they all knew that an enraged Veela would tear apart any obstacles to get to his mate, instead they wisely opted to stun the young Dominant from behind with several stunning spells. The first two had no affect what so ever, but the cumulative effect of five spells certainly did the trick and the teen fell unconscious just before he reached the door. 

“That went well,” murmured Sirius attracting the disbelieving looks of all present, “What? It did go well. I though we would have to spend the next few days as guest in the hospital wing under Poppy’s care.”

“As much as it pains me to agree,” conceded Snape, “Black is right. The lack of physical injuries is a great relief.” 

“What do we do now?” asked Lupin helping Lucius steer a floating Draco back in to his room. 

“We keep him in here, convince him not to kill the other dominants and the Council members and take him to the maze at the appropriate time.” Answered Lucius with a frown. He was not happy with the Council’s decision but knew there was nothing he could do at the moment. 

“There is one thing I don’t understand,” Sirius said sitting on the armchair near the tea tray and serving himself a cup. 

“Only one?” jibed Snape, “That is quite an improvement, Black. I’m impressed.”

“Why, you dirty…” Sirius stopped mid rant when he felt Remus hand on his shoulder. 

“Sirius!” Remus called his friends attention trying to defuse the situation, “what don’t you understand?”

“Well…” with one last nasty look at Snape, Sirius turned to Lucius, “Why were we able to stun Draco? I though a Veela could deflect any weaker spells. 

“Usually that would be true,” Lucius agreed, “but I for one, didn’t send a weak stunning spell and the fact that Draco doesn’t have a family of his own also helps.” 

Noticing the confused look on both Lupin and Sirius’s faces, Narcissa added to her husband’s explanation.

“As long as Draco is just our son, he will feel more at home with us than anybody else, which somewhat lowers his subconscious defenses, as he feels safe with us. He feels at home. That is how we were able to hit him just now.”

“But I stunned him before. The day we found him and Harry at the balcony. How was that possible?” Sirius asked really confused now.

“He was still with family,” Narcissa explained to her cousin, “not his family, because he doesn’t know you as family, but his mate’s family. You and Mr. Lupin are like uncles and Molly Weasley is like a mother to him. Draco wouldn’t kill a person that makes Harry feel at home since he can pick up on what Harry is feeling. Therefore their defenses were not as high as they could have been. They felt you as a threat to their mating but not a threat to their lives.”

“Oh.” It was all that Sirius could say. A strange knot was in his throat with the sudden certainty that Harry did think of him and Remus as family. The last two marauders looked at each other and shared a small smile, vaguely pondering on what the next few days would bring to their godson. 

**Day 7 – Hogwarts Infirmary.**

Harry spent the grand total of thirty six hour in a potion induced sleep in the infirmary. He was vaguely aware of potions being forced down his throat and the muffled voices of Mme. Pomfrey and Mrs. Weasley but he really was not able to say if they were really there or if it was just wishful thinking on his part. 

When he finally regained consciousness it took him a minute to realize he was in the infirmary and not still in the tree back in the Forbidden Forest. Carefully turning his head a little in order to avoid any pain, Harry found Molly Weasley was sitting in a chair near by knitting. She seamed to be paying attention to her knitting but dropped the needles as soon as he moved. 

“Harry, dear. How are you feeling?” she asked in a concerned voice, “wait, let me call Mme. Pomfrey.”

“No, Mrs. Weasley, wait,” Harry called managing to hold the red-haired woman’s wrist before she could get away, “tell me what happened first.”

“Well…” Molly Weasley seemed a bit unsure of what to do, she did have instructions to call the mediwitch as soon as Harry showed any signs of regaining consciousness but she couldn’t refuse such a request from somebody she considered her eighth child, “all right, dear, but then I’ll call her.”

“Alright,” agreed Harry, “so… how did I get to the Forbidden Forest? And how did I come back?”

“What do you remember, dear?” Molly asked in her best motherly voice.

“Not much, I was paying attention to the press conference and Pansy Parkinson came to talk to me… everything got hazy after that,” Harry stopped for a moment trying to recall all the details that he could, “there was something in my pocket, a golden chain of some sort. I saw when my cloak ripped in the forest.” 

“Hm… yes,” Molly took a deep breath to calm herself down and not scare Harry, it was a good think the Parkinson girl had left already, she wouldn’t be responsible for her reactions if she saw the girl right now, “it seems that Ms. Parkinson decided that she was the one meant to became the next Lady Malfoy and took upon herself to… get rid of the competition. The chain you saw was a bracelet with a _confundus_ charm to make sure you got lost in the forest.”

Harry started to hyperventilate, that… that pug! She made him go away to be with Draco. Did she succeed? He tried to get up from the bed to check on his mate, “Draco…”

“Is fine,” Molly hurried to assure the petit submissive in front of her, “Ms. Parkinson married Ivanoff and they have left already.”

Harry felt his body relax and he fell back on the pillow. Pansy’s plan had failed, it was alright. Wasn’t it? A look on Mrs. Weasley’s face caught Harry’s attention. His chaperone was hiding something from him and if the look on her face was anything to go by, it was something very serious.

“Mrs. Weasley, what is it? I can tell you’re not telling me something. Please don’t do this to me. Tell me.” Harry begged her.

“Well, dear, you see…” she started but then found herself at lost of how to break the news to Harry. The impromptu arrival of Mme. Pomfrey, Headmaster Dumbledore and a man Harry remembered was from the Veela Council, Pierre something, took the decision out of her hands. 

“You’re awake at last, Mr. Potter, good, good,” the mediwitch fussed over him for a few minutes in a very professional manner casting all sorts of diagnosis spells and checking the many potion vials on his nightstand. Finally she seemed to be satisfied and turned to the two men behind her, “you have ten minutes, gentlemen.”

“Hello, Harry,” the headmaster smiled at him, “good to see that you are awake at last. This is Messieur Pierre Raulli. He is here to talk to you about the gathering.”

“Hello, Mr. Potter,” said the Veela with a polite smile on his face, “it’s nice to see that you are better.”

“Thank you, sir. What is it about the gathering that you want to talk to me about?”

“Well, Mr. Potter, due to the recent events it was decided by the High Council to declare the claim of Mr. Malfoy over yourself null and void, and so...” the pompous looking men started only to be interrupted by Harry.

“Excuse me?” 

“Oh, you see, Harry,” the headmaster answered him since the other man seemed too shocked of being interrupted to speak at the moment, “when you decided to run into the forest, the council decided that, based on your previous history of animosity with Mr. Malfoy, it was a clear sign of your desire to break the claim…”

“But it wasn’t,” Harry hurried to explain, “I mean, it had nothing to do with Draco. It was Pansy Parkinson, she said something to me and slipped me a cursed bracelet, that is why I got lost. Not because of Draco. I got lost because…”

“Be as it may, Mr. Potter,” interrupted Mr. Raulli before Harry could go any further with his explanations, “the respect for our Veela traditions demand the utmost control. Being part Veela is all about control and Draco lost you for more than 24 hours. The Council sees that as a sign that he lost control over his submissive and considers that a breach in the claiming. That is why tomorrow you will be taken into the maze and things will proceed according to tradition. Have a good day, Mr. Potter,” and with that the strange French man turned on his hills and left the infirmary.

“Sir, is there anything that we can do about it? Can’t you explain to them that Draco never ‘lost’ me at all?” asked Harry turning his big bright green eyes to the headmaster.

“I’m afraid not, Harry,” said Dumbledore happy to notice how taken with his mate Harry was, “the council is in quite an uproar, they thought they knew each and every Veela submissive in existence. You were quite a surprise and they don’t like surprises. They have been working day and night ever since you were claimed to find out how you came to be what you are. I’m afraid this new claiming is just another way for them to know that they are in control, in spite of all that has happened.” 

“That is so… argh!” yelled Harry, “just what I need, more people trying to control my life.” Dumbledore blushed a little at this outburst and let Harry continue to vent his frustration; it was the least he could do for the boy right now.

“Do they at least know where my Veela genes came from?”

“Not yet, I’m afraid.” Dumbledore sighed, “from what I understand, no baby boy went missing when you were born and no baby girl did either when your mother was born. They are looking into your grand-mother now, but we had a major war back them and many records were lost, both muggle and magical. It was during the war against Grindelwald and the Germans and it was fought both in the muggle and in the Wizarding World. Since your grandmother was cremated, from what I remember Lily telling us about, and no trace of her is left, it will be hard to discover anything conclusive.” 

“Would a lock of her hair help?” asked Harry.

“Yes, that would be most helpful, Harry. Did a lock of her hair survived?”

“Yes, I’ve seen it at aunt Petunia’s document box. She keeps it in the attic.” 

“That is most wonderful,” the headmaster was positively glowing with joy, “I’ll tell the council right away. You should rest, my boy. Go to your rooms and rest. Big day tomorrow and all that.” 

Harry turned around to see Mrs. Weasley and Mme. Pomfrey talking in the corner and put on his best puppy eyes before asking the mediwitch if he could to his rooms. 

“You may go, Mr. Potter, but make sure to get a good nights rest, tomorrow will be a big day and I don’t want to see you here unless I absolutely have to.” Mme. Pomfrey finally gave in.

\--------


	16. Chapter 16

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Chapter 16**

**The New Chase**

The next day started out all too early for Harry. He woke up to Mrs. Weasley knocking on his door and it took a few moments to engage enough brain functions to realize that she was already entering followed by two other women and two men. They all waited at the foot of his bed for him to get up, something he was not very comfortable doing in front of all these people.

“Er… Good morning,” he said trying to understand what could be going on.

“Good morning, Harry dear,” Mrs. Weasley was already pulling the curtains and opening the windows, “we are here to help you prepare for the gathering.”

“Prepare? But nobody will see me, I’ll be in the middle of the woods all day, what is to prepare?” asked Harry eyeing a suspiciously large crate the two men were carrying between them. 

“Harry,” one of the strange women called to him, “we understand that you are not familiar with the Veela traditions so it is natural to have questions. Please feel free to ask anything you want, but we do have to get you ready before you’re taken to the maze.”

“Oh, I see, but would it be ok if you just gave me a minute to change before we begin? You kind of caught me in my pajamas.” Said Harry fighting down the need to pull the covers up to his shoulders. He bet he was blushing like mad right now.

The strangers exchanged looks between them as if they didn’t know what to do and Mrs. Weasley took the initiative to explain a few things to Harry.

“The Veela Council sent these people to help you dress for the day, Harry. It’s traditional for the submissive to be groomed by a group of submissive members of the Veela clan involved in the gathering. They are here to bathe you with scented oils, dress you with the mating robe and escort you to your tent inside the maze.”

“Oh,” answered Harry really unsure of what he should say, then something that Mrs. Weasley had said register in his brain, “bathe? I’ll have to… uh, strip?”

“That is usually what one does when bathing, Mr. Potter,” answer one of the women with a amused smile on her face, “don’t worry. We are all submissives here. All you have to do is relax and enjoy being pampered.” 

“Easy for you to say,” mumbled Harry wrapping himself with a blanket and going to the bathroom, followed closely by the whole Veela entourage, “and what exactly is this ‘mating robe’ that you mentioned?” 

Mrs. Weasley waited until after the door was closed to let go of the laugher she was trying to hold, she had seen the robe and could only imagine Harry’s reaction to it.

\------- 

A few hours later Harry looked around and tried to absorb all the details of the tent where he was suppose to wait for a dominant to claim him. His mood was growing steadily worse as the minutes ticked by and it was not even close to the time the dominants would enter the maze yet. 

Back in his rooms he had been striped naked in a room with four other people he had never seen before in his life and scrubbed in places he had no idea he had places to begin with, then they let him soak for awhile in a tub full with water too hot to be comfortable, then scrubbed again, then sent back to the tub, at least the temperature was nicer the second time around.

He had sighed in relief when they announced the bath was over, but that was only the beginning of the whole traditional preparation thing. They had trimmed his hair and styled with gel, done his nails, both hands and toe nails! They had even brushed his teeth! Where in the world had somebody came up with the notion that it would be nice to have somebody else brush your teeth? Thank Merlin they had decided against waxing his legs, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how painful that would have been, but even so his relief had been short lived, they didn’t wax him, but they did spell all his body hair off his body. Now he had hair, eyebrows and eyelashes and that was it. 

Too furious to sit still, Harry got up and paced in the luxurious tent. It was an amazing tent; he had to admit, nothing like the tent he and the Weasleys had used at the Quidditch World Cup. This one was smaller, only one room, but what a room it was. There was nothing but delicate curtains, mountains of fluffy pillows and a humongous, equally fluffy, bed. A few oil lamps were distributed around the tent with pleasantly scented oil and a small table with a gorgeous crystal bottle filled with water, two goblets and a tray of fruits, bread and cheese. 

Harry sat on the bed again as he vaguely noticed that the room was equipped with almost the same things Draco had got them at the Room of Requirement. It made sense; Draco was recreating the claiming environment he knew he would find in the tents the night he had claimed Harry. 

It all contributed to remind Harry why he was so pissed, he had done this already! The chase, the claim, the first night. Harry took a second remembering his night with Draco. It has been… some experience. It was intense, intimate, hot, overwhelming… no way he was letting some stranger soil that night. It had taken long enough for him to start accepting the fact that he was a Veela and that Draco was his mate and he refused to go through the whole thing all over again simply because some high and mighty Veela wanted the chance to claim him. The claim was done and over with, better luck next time. Making his mind Harry got up from the fluffy bed once more.

His legs got caught up in his robes and he almost fell. That only made him madder at the whole situation. And to think that he had been concerned about the robe he had to wear after the claiming! This one was outrageous! He was practically naked even though he was covered from head to toe. The robe, if you could call it that, was one of the most transparent pieces of fabric he had ever seen in his life! A few well placed embroilments did very little to preserve his modesty. No wonder his ‘escorts’ had him wrapped in a oversized cloak on the way here. Too bad they had taken the cloak with them when they left.

Wrapping himself in one of the curtains, Harry marched outside and took a look at the tent. It was set up in a small clearing with hardly enough room for anything but the tent itself, all done in tones of green, almost blending to the vegetation around it. 

_‘Makes sense, I guess, no need to make it any easier for them. These colors make the tent almost disappear against the foliage.’_ Harry thought, and that gave him an idea, _‘If they can make it harder for the dominants, there is no way I’m going to make it easy for any of them. They want a hunt; I’ll give them a hunt and them some!’_

Harry took off his robe while running back inside the tent where he started to rub himself in the pillows and curtains. Blushing like mad he left the tent he did the same thing on a few trees at different intervals and ran back to the tent once more.

The next part made him blush even harder, but he was determined to make the lives of the dominants as hard as possible. 

Harry carefully spread the cover of as many pillows as he could and adding a few curtains he managed to rip down in an irregular pattern in front of him and laid down in his makeshift bed. He started to concentrate on Draco. Running his hands on his own naked body, Harry remembered how Draco touched him that night, the kisses, the scents, Draco’s voice on his ears, his silvery eyes, his hair, his tongue… in less than five minutes Harry came violently all over himself and the fabrics in around of him.

It took him a minute to recover, but he had no time to spare. He cleaned his body in the fabrics, making sure he got his scent over as many as he could, then he picked up the soiled fabrics and hid one by one in all the niches he could find and as far apart from each other as he dared to place them. 

He ran back to the tent and washed himself with the water from the crystal bottle as good as he could and using another one of the curtains from the tent to dry himself before donning the diaphanous robe again. He used the now empty bottle to store the scented oil from the lamps and left the tent once more. That should help mask his scent and throw the dominants of his track. 

Harry ran back and forth through the woods, stopping every now and again to pour a bit of the oil in a strait line across his path and make sure he ran over it a few times before advancing any further. By the time he was running out of oil he heard the chime signaling the entry of the dominants.

By then Harry hope had a large enough circle of false leads and scented obstacles around the tent area. If what he had learned in CoMC was correct, he would successfully throw the Dominants off his track. He hurried back into the tent and used the remaining of the oil to cover his tracks as he went out of the tent again passing under the back wall by pouring some oil on his track just as he left the tent and some on the tree trunk after he had climb it. All there was left for him to do now was climb a tree and hide himself while the Dominants searched for him.

As he waited, hidden away as far up as he could get in the tree, each second seemed to tick away slower then the previous. Harry’s first minutes in his hiding place were filled with worry. He worried that he hadn’t covered his tracks well enough, he worried that some other dominant would find him, that he wouldn’t be able to run or fight… and, finally, after fifteen minutes up the tree and feeling he had enough of tree climbing to last him a life time, Harry began to worry about Draco. What if Draco decided not to come now that he was no longer a virgin? The blond could have decided to find himself a proper mate, one who was still a virgin and left Harry to be claimed by another. 

Just as his eyes began to sting with unshed tears, Harry heard the first sign of commotion in the woods. He could hear growls, branches snapping and leafs being shaken. The Dominants had arrived. And with them a sudden whim to make himself seen, to leave his hiding place and present himself in the clearing in front of the tent, to show himself off in his pretty new robe. 

“Bastards! They are all using The Call!” Harry muttered to himself in his hiding place behind the tent, gritting his teeth and shaking his head to clear his mind, firmly intending to hold his position no matter what. His plan was simple: he would stay where he was until all the other dominants checked the tent. Once they all made sure he was someplace else he would craw back inside, hide under the pillows and wait for Draco.

Harry was very happy with his plan and not once did he stop to consider that it included letting Draco know where he was or what did that mean. He never considered the possibility of trying to escape like the first time either. No, as far as Harry was concern he had the perfect plan. 

\-------- 

Draco knocked another Dominant off his path not even stopping to look if the unworthy creature got hurt after being thrown against the trees sideways. They were not important, only Harry was important and every Dominant he took down was one less Dominant to hurt his mate while trying to claim him. 

In a way he was glad there were other Dominants in the woods with him, not that he liked the idea of any of them competing with him for his mate, not that. What he did like was the fact that he could vent some of his pent up anger knocking them out of his way. He was fairly certain the first two he had encountered would not be regaining consciousness any time soon, the three he came upon next were luckier but were still out of the chase for good. 

He only had fifteen more to worry about. Draco pressed forward through the wood, vowing silently that the Council would regret their decision to demand a rematch for Harry before the day was out.

Draco ran a few more minutes before finding another Dominant, but this one was already unconscious with a piece of fabric firmly clutched in his hand.

_Harry_ , it was Harry’s scent. It was all over the fabric. It was the scent of his arousal… Could one of the other Dominants have claimed Harry already? Sniffing the torn fabric Draco notice the scent of two Dominants, the unconscious one and some other, but none of them had been aroused. How did Harry get aroused all by himself? And why was this fabric covered with it?

The faint trace of Harry’s scent came in the wind. The same scent of arousal and cum. How…? A wisp of color caught Draco’s eye. Another piece of fabric stashed behind a pile of rocks. No scent of Dominants this time. Only Harry’s scent this time.

“He is throwing us off his track!” Draco could have laughed out loud at his submissive’s tactics. Only now he was faced with a problem, how would HE find his submissive? Following his scent would only lead all the Dominants in a wild goose chase. 

_‘Well, he won’t run_ ,’ though Draco, ‘ _he tried that before and it didn’t work, so he will try to hide. But where could he be? He has just spent a couple days in the forest and I doubt he is eager to repeat the experience… he has to be at the tent, or near enough to access it if needed. I have to find the tent and start looking from there.’_

Now that he was ignoring his mate’s scent, Draco could notice a pattern of sorts. Every time the scented path seemed to become strong enough to be followed it would be cut by a splash of scented oil which would linger in your nose for minutes before dissipating. If you were lucky enough not to step in to the blasted thing; then you would be stuck carrying the scent around with you. It was a nightmare for the Dominants.

Draco made it to the tent with only minor altercations with two or three frustrated Dominants. It was almost fun to watch them running around without any clue as to where to go next.

The tent was empty, but that much was expected and Draco didn’t worry too much about it. He knew Harry would be somewhere near by, it was only a matter of figuring out where.

Starting in front of the tent, Draco slowly made his away around it, looking for possible hide outs where his mate could be hiding. The first time around he found nothing and that got him a bit worried, but he knew he had to remain calm if he was to succeed. 

Draco went for the second search around the tent and that was when he noticed. 

The oil, used so liberally in the area in front of the tent was only used once behind it. Exactly behind it. There was some on the ground like all the other places but there was one difference this time. It was also in a tree trunk right behind the tent. How… strange.

Draco looked up and searched amongst the leaves and branches. Sure enough, there was a pair of dazzling emerald eyes looking back at him. 

“Hi there.” Draco whispered smiling. No need to call unwanted attention now.

The eyes blinked once but there was no other answer. Draco increased The Call just a bit.

“Are you comfortable up there?” 

“… sort of,” was the soft answer.

“I bet you would feel more comfortable down here with me… or maybe inside with all those pillows.” Draco tempted. 

“I could be…” Harry dropped the green curtain he was using as camouflage a bit, sticking his head out of the green cocoon he had around himself and smiling to his Dominant below, “but it could be awfully dangerous down there. What if I am attacked?”

“I’ll protect you” promised Draco offering his hand, “come down here and let me take you inside.” 

Harry carefully climbed down the tree, immensely happy that Draco had found him without any help. Draco had found him using his own skill. Harry felt like bursting with pride. 

A blur of movement made Harry turn his head just in time to see a Dominant launch himself at him, trying to knock him out of Draco’s grasp, but Draco was faster than the intruder and pulled Harry behind him and out of the way. 

The Dominants faced each other growling, their eyes in one solid color. Draco’s were silver and the other Dominant’s were a light shade of blue. They were measuring each other and preparing to fight. It was when it hit Harry. They were going to fight. That other Dominant was trying to hurt HIS Dominant, his family.

That moment something snapped inside Harry. No one, absolutely no one, would hurt his Dominant, no one would stand between them. 

Harry’s eyes went solid green.


	17. Chapter 17

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Chapter 17**

**Author’s note:** Disclaimer - see chapter 01. It's important.

Also, thank you so much for all the reviews, I hope this chapter lives up to the expectation. 

My muse would like to take this opportunity to inform that all readers will be body seached for clubs, baseball bats, pitchforks, torches and flame throwers. All cookies and chocolate goodies will be confiscated. : )

And so everybody has an idea of what I have in mind, I kind of picture Harry with a robe similar to the one showing in “Flaming June” (a painting by Fredrick Lord Leighton – you can google it if you are curious), only Harry’s had a few embroidments added. 

\----------

**Outside the mating area**

Lucius and Narcissa walked amongst the other Veela currently not involved in the chase. They were all in the smartly decorated reception room set up just outside the intricate gateway that led to the mating grounds. There was really very little to do now, only mingle and have polite conversations while waiting for the return of those Dominants who would not be mating tonight, hopefully, before night fall only one Dominant would still remain inside and they all would leave except for four representatives from the High Council who would be left by the gates with orders to alert them if anything happened. In the morning, everybody would return and have breakfast together while waiting for the new couple.

“Well, at least this time they are in the proper area,” said Glory Zabini, her son Blaise was taking part in the gathering again, “it is simply not a gathering without an outdoors breakfast.”

“Right you are, dear,” Narcissa smiled at her long time friend from behind her tea cup. There were no hard feeling between the two families, if the council had decided to void Draco’s claim, it was only natural for the Zabinis to participate in the new chase. The Malfoys were angry at the High Council’s decision, not at their friends for trying to secure the best submissive available to continue their line.

The reception area was pretty much the same it had been just a few days ago, the only difference was that now it was a bit bigger to accommodate all the newcomers and a dais was added in the back of the area. It was where the table for the High Council was placed. 

The audience kept talking amongst themselves quietly while waiting for the members of the High Council to speak. As of now, they were all sitting in the high table apparently waiting for something. 

A noise from the road that lead out of Hogwarts made a few heads turn in that direction. Two huge carriages were making their way into the school grounds at an elegant unhurried pace and came to a halt just outside the reception area, a few seconds later the door of the first carriage swung open to let the High Council Keeper of Records to exit followed closely by six assistants come out of the first one. The audience held a collective breath; the presence of the Keeper of Records could only mean one thing: they had found Mr. Potter’s Veela family.

Three figures came out the second carriage, the hood of their traveling cloak pulled over their heads shielding their identity. An aide of the High Council greeted them and led them to a table in the reception area while the Keeper and his assistants made their way to the high table and were formally welcomed by the chairman. The hall fell silently as everyone got up to acknowledge the entrance of the elderly man.

“The High Council bids welcome to the Keeper of Records. May our memory forever be preserved, may our inheritance flow into our children.” The chairman bowed to the Keeper of Secrets.

“The Keeper of Records recognizes the High Council. May our path be clear, may our roots be strong, may our future be bright,” answered the Keeper bowing to the High Council. 

“In the matter of our past and the lost child recently found, what says the Keeper of the Records?” asked the spokesman of the council.

A podium appeared to the side of the high table and the Keeper made his way there. He sat his book on the platform before him and opened at a previously marked page.

“It’s our pleasure to announce, that after many years of grief a page of our history has been restored,” he said, “in the years of conflict generated by one Grindelwald and the muggle war and the chaos that reigned, many important documents were lost. It was only through careful and extensive work done by the record keepers that we were able to restore our records back to its former glory, or so we believed. It is now known that a small entry had been lost. That entry is now recovered.” 

“Goddess, he will take all night,” Narcissa whispered to her husband who squeezed her hand in acknowledgement and fought down a smile.

“Allow him, it’s his moment of glory,” replied Lucius, but his attention was focused at the new arrivals a few tables away from them. Protocol prevented him from getting up and properly greeting them but he was startle when he recognized the newcomers. Michael and Hortencia Baudelle were known by their reclusive ways and were rarely seen outside their ancestral home on the north of France and the third person on the table was Theodore Phillips, head of the Phillips Family with whom the Malfoys had done business many times, they were rich, influential and powerful on their own right, but had no Veela blood as far as Lucius knew. ‘What is he doing here?’ Lucius thought.

The Keeper of Records began talking again and Lucius forced himself to pay attention to the man.

“It’s now known, that the third child of the Baudelle Family, named Violette, daughter of Michael and Hortecia Baudelle, chose to leave her ancestral home and wed Andrei Mihailov, a wizard who had taken flight from Russia a few years prior. The young couple moved to England where they set residence and tried to live as muggles to avoid getting caught up in the Wizarding war. It was here that their only child was born. A girl named Daisy Mihailov, deceased, latent Veela, squib...” 

The audience came alive with conversation. The Baudelle family was an old and respected one, very powerful in Switzerland and France, nothing happened in Veela Society without their say-so and Mihailov, although not particularly powerful or rich, was well known for his books on charms. 

Ms. Baudelle’s break from her family had been quite a scandal back then, she refused to take part in any gathering and turned down any Dominants her family elected to introduce to her. Instead she chose to run away with a penniless wizard and was never heard from again. 

The spokesman gently knocked a crystal goblet with a silver spoon at the high table demanding the audience to remain quiet. 

“We ask the Keeper of Records to please proceed.” 

“Thank you, the child Daisy was raised in the muggle world and eventually married Richard Evans, from the squib branch of the Phillips Family and together they had two daughters, Petunia Evans, squib, latent Veela, married to Vernon Dursley, muggle and mother of Dudley Dursley, squib, and Lily Evans, deceased, latent Veela, witch, married to James Edward Potter, deceased, wizard, and mother of Harry James Potter, Veela, wizard.”

One could hear a pin drop in the room. Not only Mr. Potter was a member of an important Veela family but also a pureblood wizard. Narcissa silently thanked the fates that these facts had only been known now. If that had come up yesterday, she had no doubts a few assassination attempts would have been performed in hopes to thin out the competition. 

“Is that the findings of the researchers?” asked the spokesman.

“That is the findings of the researchers as it is documented in this report that I now present before the council,” one of the assistants walked forward and placed a stack of paper in front of the High Council. 

“How were these findings verified?” The audience held its breath, if no discrepancies were found, this would be the last question asked in the record presenting ceremony.

“They were verified through the private records of the Baudelle Family, both muggle and magical records in England and through a genealogy potion using the hair of the late Daisy Evans. The findings are conclusive and state that Mr. Harry James Potter is a direct descendant of the Veela Family Baudelle through his maternal grandmother and with the Phillips Wizarding Family through his maternal grandfather.” 

Mr. Potter’s status had suddenly shot sky high within the Veela and Wizarding communities.

“Thank you, honorable Keeper of Records,” the spokesman said after receiving a nod from the head of the High Council, “Your services are highly appreciated. Please join us for a cup of tea.”

And that was the cue the audience was waiting for. Inviting the Keeper of Records for tea meant that he would be available to talk to anybody present and private questions would be allowed. This translated as one thing, the findings were conclusive and Mr. Potter was all they claimed him to be.

\-------- 

**The Chase, part II**

The young French Dominant, Jean, was at his wits end. Where could the little submissive be? His scent was all over the place driving every Dominant in the area insane and the fighting was getting rougher by the minute. The Dominants were at each others throats quite literally and so far none of them had seen their prize yet. 

Not being the strongest amongst the Dominants, Jean knew that only cunning would allow him to claim the submissive as his own, but how could he do it when nobody had any clues as where the little morsel was? Looking around, Jean could not believe his luck; a few feet to his right he caught a glimpse of blond hair. The Malfoy heir! The blond Veela was not running around sniffing the air like all the others, he was determinedly searching for something else other than the origin of the scent and was making his way somewhere. Jean would be a fool if he couldn’t guess what was going on. 

It was a widely known fact that the Malfoy heir had held the previous claim over this submissive before the High Council decided to ‘play fair’ and void the claim. Really, who were they trying to fool? There was no way a sweet powerful submissive like the one he could scent right now simply show up out of nowhere. They probably had it all set up ages before the gathering but they wouldn’t fool him. Oh, no. Nobody would fool him.

Making sure to stay just far enough to pass unnoticed, Jean began to follow the other Dominant. 

Draco Malfoy seemed to find what he was looking for after a few minutes. The submissive’s tent! But that made no sense to Jean. They had searched the tent already and the submissive was not there. The blond went straight into the tent, looked around a bit and came back out. Jean barely had enough time to dive behind a tree. What was the other Dominant doing? Malfoy was now looking around and appeared to be pondering about something.

Jean watched as the other Dominant seemed to reach a decision and started to go around the tent. The French Veela almost gave up; it was obvious that the other boy had no idea where the submissive could be. Still, just to be on the safe side, Jean decided to go around the tent too. You never know when lady luck will decide to strike. 

The Malfoy heir went once around the tent and found nothing. Jean began to believe he was wasting his time when the blond Veela started to go a second time around the tent. Jean decided not to follow this time, he was just wasting time here. Malfoy had no idea where the submissive was and everyone else had a good head start on them. Time to get moving.

A noise behind him made him turn. It sounded like someone else was coming. Damn, just what he needed: to attract unwanted attention and even more unwanted competition. Whoever it was would want to fight him and get him out of the running. Jean hid behind a tree so see who was coming.

The French Veela cursed when a tall blond came into view. Morten, his very own Norwegian nightmare. The bloke was as big as a house with the firm belief that anything in life could be solved with a few well placed punches. Jean once more cursed the fates that made the two of them cousins, but the engines in his brain were already turning. A wicked smile grew on Jean’s face as a plan began to take shape.

Neither being the largest nor the strongest in the family did bring a fair amount of problems if you had cousins like Morten, but it didn’t mean this situation couldn’t bring something good either and at the moment Morten would be just the kind of distraction he needed. Just because he couldn’t hope to fight Malfoy and win, it didn’t mean someone couldn’t. And if he was really lucky Malfoy would cause just enough damage to his cousin to assure that Jean would come up on top in a fight later on.

“Morten,” Jean called as loud as he dared without being heard by Malfoy and the submissive.

“What are you doing here, Jean?” Morten’s eyes were already narrowing as he tried to find out why his weakling of a cousin would be calling out to him. 

“It’s over, you know, the chase,” said Jean shrugging his shoulders.

“Why, little cousin? Are you saying you have claimed the submissive already?” asked Morten with an ironic smile on his face.

“No such luck,” Jean did his best not to rise up to the bait, “but Malfoy was just here and he seemed to have a pretty good idea of where to go. Since he had the previous claim, I imagine…”

“He was just here?” interrupted Morten, “Which way did he go?”

Jean pointed to the side of the tent. “He just around the back.”

“And you just let him go?” asked Morten not completely buying his cousin’s story, “why didn’t you try to claim the submissive for yourself?”

“I’m not strong enough to take him, you know that,” said Jean pretending to be upset.

“That much is true, cousin,” Morten agreed laughing, “Step aside, let me show you how it is done.” 

Jean stepped out of the way as Morten rushed after Malfoy, the French Veela suppressed a wicked smile, his cousin was just too easy to manipulate. He made sure to follow his cousin for a bit, just to make sure his plan had worked the way he wanted before going back to the chase. If his luck held there would be two less Dominants in the chase.

Morten had made almost all the way to the back of the tent when he stopped. Eyes fixed up ahead and a slighted daze expression. Intrigued as to what could have happen, Jean picked around the tent to see what had caught his cousin attention in such a way.

The Malfoy heir was standing under a tree with his hand held up. He was smiling and seemed to be talking to the tree. Strange. 

Suddenly, a green piece of fabric that seemed to be the exactly color of the tent moved in the tree and the most gorgeous creature appeared in front of them. Black hair, glowing light golden skin, soft musical voice and a smile that made the day turn brighter. He was beautiful, dreamy, perfect… and there was two very large Dominants standing between him and Jean.

Jean’s first impulse was to challenge both his cousin and the Malfoy heir, but his survival instinct took over at the nick of time. He had no chance in a fight like that; his best chance was to let one Dominant distract the other while he snatched his prize. Yes, that could work.

Since time was at the essence, Jean hurried to go around the tent and position himself behind Malfoy and the submissive. If he was fast he would be in the right place and in the right time to fool them both.


	18. Chapter 18

  
Author's notes: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.  


* * *

**Chapter 18**

Jean could hardly believe his luck; it had worked like a charm. Actually, his plan had worked better than a charm, since it led him straight to the submissive and now the two big dumb Dominants were facing each other. They would fight amongst themselves to prove who was the biggest and strongest; and while they were throwing a testosterone hissy fit, he would prove to be the cleverest one and snatch away the submissive, claiming the beauty in front of him before Malfoy and his cousin could figure out what was really going on. 

The French Veela took a moment to appraise the submissive. He had glowing black hair, smelled like a sweet ripe fruit ready to be eaten and was dressed in a flowing see through robe that allowed his body to be seen just enough to drive any hot blooded Veela out of his mind. 

And he would be Jean’s before the day was over. Jean promised to himself.

He distantly heard the growls and grunts as one Dominant attacked the other, it was time, Jean grabbed his prize and prepared to run.

That was when his plan met an unpredicted hitch. The submissive didn’t bulge. 

Of course, resistance! The submissive was supposed to resist. Darn, he had forgotten about this small detail. Not a problem, the submissive was actually quite small in comparison to himself, even if he was not one of the largest Dominants in attendance today. He could handle a small submissive without breaking a sweat. 

That was the very last thought to cross Jean’s mind before his world exploded in a maelstrom of pain.

\------

A few moments before, Draco had just helped Harry out of the tree when they were suddenly attacked by a huge blond looking more like a Viking then a Veela. The stranger’s long dark golden hair flowing behind him as he launched at them trying to knock Harry out of Draco’s hands. 

In a blur of movement, Harry was behind Draco and the Dominants started to snarl at each other. 

Harry was angry; someone was trying to attack his Dominant. His family was in danger and he would not sit idly by and let one of his loved ones get hurt. He had precious few of those. He prepared himself for a fight but stayed behind Draco. It was not his place to take the lead in this particular attack, he did trust his Dominant to defend them both, but just in case the attacker was unable to take the hint, he was ready to fight as well.

Harry was so caught up paying attention to the fight in front of him, trying to decide when would be the best time to step in, that he failed to notice someone approaching from behind. Only when a couple of arms wrapped themselves around him did he notice that there was another Dominant in the area.

Acting without thinking, Harry wriggled himself lose of the stranger’s grip enough to placed his feet firmly on the ground, spreading them apart just enough to lower his center of gravity and bending forwards while holding on to the offender’s arms. The Dominant was flipped over him and sent crashing into the ground in front of Harry. 

Harry could not believe the nerve of this Dominant; he tried to avoid the fight and steel him away like a common thief, no honor, no value… The smallish Dominant at his feet was not worthy and Harry was just the person to prove it to him.

Still holding the Dominant’s arm, now twisted at an unnatural angle, Harry took a cursory look at his Dominant. Draco was holding his own against the other Dominant, giving as good as he got. He didn’t have to worry about that fight just yet. Time to focus on the maggot at his feet and the very first thing to do was to take him out of combat for good.

Harry pushed the arm in his hand a bit further and heard a satisfying crack just before the Dominant began to scream in pain. A swift kick on his face shut him up and broke his nose in the process. The bleeding Dominant quickly got up as soon as Harry released his arm, only to receive a round kick in the jaw that sent him flying against the same tree Harry had hidden himself. There he slid to the ground and remained unmoving.

Making sure the Dominant was out cold, Harry focused on Draco again. If his fight was still going strong Harry was now free to step in and fight along side with his mate. Draco had nothing else to prove in his eyes, the claim had been made and accepted by Harry. No one would be allowed to come between them. 

Draco, however, didn’t seem to need any help as he flipped the other Dominant in the air and sent him crashing with the same tree Harry had been hiding in. 

That was when Draco noticed that the Dominant seemed to have at least three legs and hair coming out from under his belly. The strange site made Draco take another look and it took him a second to understand. There was a second Dominant under the one he had just fought. What in Merlin name was going on? 

Finally realizing the extent of the danger around them, when another Dominant could arrive any minute and one had in fact arrived without him noticing, Draco snapped his head around searching for his submissive. His heart skipped a bit when he found Harry standing there breathing heavily, eyes solid green, hair tousled and mating robe flowing around him. Not wasting a single moment, Draco swoop Harry in his arms and kissed him passionately. 

“Mine,” he growled. 

“Yours,” Harry nodded mesmerized with the power his Dominant was exuding. Nestling his head in his Dominant’s neck, Harry reveled in the feeling of love and possessiveness emanating from his mate. 

Only now he acknowledged the fact that the scent of so many belligerents Dominants so close by was unsettling him. He had been on edge all day and for the first time he managed to let his guard down. He and Draco were together now, safe in each other’s arms, for the first time Harry let himself wonder what would happen if Draco had gotten hurt today. A low growl made them turn their heads.

All the ruckus with the previous fight apparently had attracted the attention of other Dominants. Three more were approaching them and Harry could feel Draco’s muscles tensing, preparing for yet another fight.

But it was not just another fight, now there would be three against one. Draco could get hurt… Draco could get killed. 

“ENOUGH” yelled Harry. Tradition or not, this had gone long enough, he had put up with all the attacks on his family he could. It was time they knew his family was off limits. “You’ll leave this place now. The chase was over a week ago and there will be no more attacks on my mate.” 

The three Dominants paid no attention to his warnings and prepared to jump him. Draco could only shake his head. He knew Harry was his now, there was no mistaking his scent, it was now a perfect mixture of his original scent and Draco’s, something that would only happen when the bond was fully accepted. 

He could also smell power… and anger, lots of it. The three idiots in front of them had no chance what so ever. He moved behind his submissive and let his hands rest on his shoulders, letting Harry know that he was supporting him in whatever he wanted to do. Draco was actually curious as to what would happen next if the idiots really decided to attack.

Much to Draco’s amusement, they did. 

Harry didn’t move a muscle other than clenching his fist. Without any other warning, the wind picked up and the sky suddenly was covered with black heavy clouds. Magic cracked all around them as Harry stood between Draco and his would-be assailants, but that didn’t stop the other Dominants since they were too entailed with the vision of Harry and their desire to claim him.

A myriad of lightning bolts started to rain down around them and that caught their attention and made them pause for a bit, but they still tried to go through with the attack. Draco just shook his head, anybody thick enough not to notice THOSE signs deserved anything they got. 

Suddenly, there was a loud thud and one of the Dominants fell on the ground. The other two didn’t notice that either and tried to take another step towards their targets. They never made it. 

Hail started to castigate the grounds. Some of the ice pieces were as large as fists and within seconds the two remaining Dominants were also unconscious on the ground. The strange hail storm continued for another minute or so and Draco noticed that neither him or Harry were being hit. In fact, there was a large circle around them where the ground was hail free. 

Before Draco could further consider the matter he felt Harry start to sway and pulled the nearly unconscious submissive into his arms. As soon as he had Harry in his arms the storm was over the sky was clear again. Draco smiled at the powerful boy in his arms.

“You never do things by half, do you love?” 

Draco carried Harry around the tent, pulling the curtains that served as makeshift doors closed and depositing his precious cargo in the large bed at the center of the tent and joining him on it. He held the smaller brunet in his arms, gently brushing his hands through the raven locks of his mate until he felt Harry stir in his arms. 

Harry turned his head to look at his mate and smiled, getting on his knees facing Draco who did the same in front of him.

They knelt there on their knees facing each other in silence and trying to memorize all the differences they could notice on their mates face since they last saw. Harry looked a bit thinner, his already big glowing green eyes seemed even bigger now and his cheeks were flushed because of his mate’s proximity. 

Draco had a small cut on his forehead over his left eyebrow, his face was also scratched and he was spotting a large bruise on the corner of his mouth. Unable to stop himself, Harry lift his hand and touched his mate’s face. Draco leaned into the touch, letting the proximity with his submissive sooth him. 

His submissive’s scent was slightly off because of all the scrubbing during the preparations this morning, but Draco could still sense a bit of himself on his submissive as Harry nuzzled his head on Draco’s neck, placing small kisses on him. 

Their movements were soft and slow-paced as Harry turned his head to face Draco and his arms went around Draco’s neck and Draco’s arms went around Harry, pulling him closer, letting their bodies revel in the warmth of each other as their lips met gently. Harry felt like he was floating in air.

There was no rush, no need to conquer, to prove anything. Only acceptance. 

Harry allowed Draco to pull up his robe and lifted his arms so the blond Veela could remove it from him and let his Dominant’s hands roam his body. He knew that the blond needed to make sure for himself that his mate was unharmed and at the same time reinforce his claim. 

Draco made Harry lay on the bed and moved to his mate’s feet. Taking one at the time in his hands and placing soft kisses all over them. 

Harry’s breath hitched when he felt Draco’s tongue dart out and lick his toes. When Draco sucked one of them into his mouth he couldn’t help but moan out loud. Draco continued his slow sensual torture, kissing every square inch of flesh of his mate and making his way up his body. Neither of them noticed a few protection spells come into existence as Draco finally kissed his mate’s mouth and settled between his legs. Their bond was now official.

\------- 

Michael Baudelle checked once more on his mate. Hortencia was talking to a few of the ladies present and Albus Dumbledore. Even after almost 80 years of union Michael was still very protective of his wife and submissive, but he had to admit that Dumbledore was too much of an honorable man to be a threat, still… better be safe than sorry, so he kept stealing glances at their table every now and again trying not to be too obvious. Hortencia just thought it was all too funny that her husband was still jealous of her after all this time but made sure never to be out of his sight. 

Hearing the noise of a chair being pulled, Michael Baudelle turned to see Theodore Phillips, who had just returned to their table after exchanging a few words with the Keeper of Records, retake his seat. 

“So, Mr. Phillips. What do you think about us being related?” he asked only half interested in the answer. It was only polite conversation after all.

“Oh, that was a very pleasant surprise, Mr. Baudelle,” answered the younger wizard, “I’m however a bit concern about some of the information unveiled by the research team.”

“You don’t say. What information would that be?” asked the elder man checking on his wife again.

“You do realize that my family is not as numerous as it used to be.” Phillips started uncomfortable. 

“Yes, the young couples today don’t seem to want as many children as we did in my time…” Baudelle agreed with a knowing smile, “but why is that a problem?”

“As the head of the family, it is my responsibility to see to the well being of every child with Phillips blood. Yet somehow it seems that we overlook the fact that young Mr. Potter had a less than ideal childhood.”

“I beg your pardon,” Michael Baudelle was suddenly very interested in what the younger man had to say. 

Theodore Phillips leaned forward so that nobody else would hear what he had to say.

“Well, apparently…” a sudden lightning bolt interrupted the head of the Phillips family. It was closely followed by innumerous others. That was strange, the sky had been clear a moment before, “What in Merlin’s name is going on?”

Nobody answered his question because at that very moment a hail storm fell upon them and hastily placed shield charms were the only thing keeping them from getting hurt. 

As suddenly as it had started, the storm was over and the sky cleared up again. Everybody in the gathering area waited with baited breath to see what else would happen. Strange events did seem to take place whenever Mr. Potter was involved. 

Their attention was diverted by a soft chime. Behind the high table, two shields shimmered into view on the large board displayed there. One was the shield of Baudelle, which glowed for a moment before reducing in size and drifting to the lower left corner of the board, the center of the board was then taken by the Malfoy Crest, announcing to the world the identity of the couple now secluded in the tent.

The Malfoys, the Baudelles and Theodore Phillips gracefully accepted the congratulations over the new bond.

Michael Baudelle and Theodore Phillips shared a glance that clearly stated ‘ _we should talk later_ ’, both men nodded to each other and turned to receive even more well wishes.

\-------- 

The Gryffindor common room was full that afternoon. It was an unspoken agreement that they should remain together that day until they had any news about Harry. A few members of the other houses were present as well, being close friend with the lions or members of the D.A.. 

“Man, I don’t believe they are making Harry go through all that again,” complained Seamus, “that is just wrong, I tell ya.”

They were all very upset with the fact that the Veela Council had voided Malfoy’s claim and was putting Harry through the whole claiming ordeal again. 

“What if Harry does get hurt this time?” whispered Colin, “What if one of them takes Harry against his will?”

“That would never happen; Harry knows how to defend himself. He’ll fight back,” assured Ron.

“But there are too many of them! What if he can’t fight back?”

Loud thumps on the windows made all heads turn; Hermione hurried to the closest window and looked outside for a moment, before opening the window and picking up something on the window sill.

“What is it, Hermione?” asked Ginny from where she was sitting near the fireplace.

“That,” said Hermione showing a piece of ice in her hand with a triumphant smile, “was Harry fighting back.”

On her hand they could all see a perfectly shaped lightning bolt in ice.


	19. Chapter 19

**Author’s note:**  
1 - Sorry, sorry, sorry it took so long.

2 - One reader (You never gave me your name or return address, love) asked me if he/she could use my take on the Veela society to write a fic. 

My Answer:

Sure, go ahead, but I demand a link so I can read it too… oh, and a nice little mention of V.I.P. and my name would be wonderful. (Yes, I’m vain, very vain)

Thank you for all the reviews and I’m sorry I didn’t answer some of them, and I have not abandoned any of my fics. I’m just working in one at the time because of the little amount of time I have free to indulge my passions. 

3 – I would like to thank Dawn, who agreed to beta this chapter for me since Rose was on a trip. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I would go insane if I had to wait another two weeks before posting.

\-------- 

**Chapter 19**

 

That afternoon, when all the necessary social dancing was done and over with, Theodore Phillips made his way to the Baudelle’s quarters. The wizard was not looking forwards to this conversation. For generations the Phillips had dealt with their family problems in private, unfortunately now there was another family involved and, quite honestly, he was worried about his recently found relative and what he had learned about the child’s home environment and extended family. The fact that the new extended family was also Veela and that they were very protective of their young didn’t do much to calm Theodore’s nerves either.

The news about the Veela blood was actually encouraging. The Phillips, although rich and influential, had no Veela blood in them. It would be a nice addition to the family, as would be the boy-who-lived, even if this last one proved to be a bit troublesome. The Phillips so far, had managed not to take a definitive stand on one side or the other on this war, but now the decision had been taken away from them. 

Not that this would be a problem really, as the political gain would more than compensate the loss of neutrality and with the Veela, the Malfoys in particular, behind the boy-who-lived his victory was a sure thing. Yes, it was time the Phillips took a stand and it looked like they would be standing by the winning side, not a bad thing at all. 

No, the problem was not the Veela genes or the high profile young cousin. The problem was his squib cousin and her muggle husband. Something would have to be done about them. 

For generations now, the Phillips family had taken care of its own. All magical members of the family received their education in the family’s school only a few ever decided to go to Hogwarts. Even so, the tuition was paid by the family. Upon graduation, they also received a generous sum of money to help them get started in life and there were always letters being exchanged and family reunions… nobody simply walked out of the family. 

Even the squibs. Although they didn’t receive as much money as the magical members of the family, they were still taken care of, helped to get their independence, and given a good education. The Phillips didn’t cast them out like so many other families. 

Of course, there were fights, some small, some big, some were serious, some became a joke after a while, some were part of the family history and at least one of them caused a family member to turn his back on the family… Theodore could still easily remember the one between his father, the previous head of the family, and Richard Evans. 

The man never accepted the fact that his family had all that money and almost none of it would come to him. The arguments got a bit better after Richard married Daisy Mihailov, a nice squib from a Russian family. For a few years they managed to live in peace with everybody else but then an argument broke out and things were said on both sides that made Richard Evans take his wife and children, Petunia, who was eight at the time and already insufferable and Lily, who was just too young to make an impression, and move to another city. 

It had taken Theodore’s father years to find his cousin again and when he did Richard and Daisy had already passed away and Petunia had just gotten married to a man named Vernon Dursley. 

That was when everything went from a family problem to family betrayal. 

Once they found their lost relatives, the Phillips immediately took all the necessary steps to bring them back into the family, but the young couple refused. Petunia was angry that she would never be allowed to live in one of the family manors or receive as much money as a magical member of the family and resented all of them who had magic. 

Oh, she took their money alright, complaining the whole time about the ‘petty cash’ they were handing down. She also took the house they were offering, making remarks about how small it was compared to any of the family mansions, how poor the neighborhood was, how she had ‘a poor excuse for a garden’… and for some strange reason never mentioning the fact that at that same moment her younger sister was in Hogwarts receiving a magical education. She simply never mentioned her sister at all, she said quite plainly that “the rest of the family had died” and they assumed she meant everybody. 

Not a single word at all, not even with the contract she and her fat obnoxious husband signed in order to receive the house and the money. The one that said that she had the obligation to inform the Phillips of any magical children born on their side of family; the one that also stated the consequences of failing to fulfill that particular condition; the one that now would allow Theodore some measure of legal revenge against his envious cousin.

And now was the time to clean up the mess. Quietly, of course, it was a family matter and it should be solved within the family, but the Baudelles were now family, at least where the boy was concerned. Theodore sighed, there was no way around this one. Raising his hand he knocked on the heavy wooden door in front of him. It was time to inform the other side of the family about the situation. They had the right to have a say in it too.

\--------- 

Mr. Baudelle was in the middle of a long list of floo calls he had to make. They already knew how young Harry was related to them, but a lot of questions remained unanswered, like what had caused the untimely demise of his daughter and son-in-law? The fact that his grandchild was already dead, although it made him sad, came as no surprise, squibs unfortunately didn’t have the long life span wizards and magical creatures were graced with and the whole world knew how his great-grandchild and her husband had died, nothing natural on that but still a logical explanation, but his daughter was a witch and a Veela, her husband had been a wizard; they should still be alive. 

There was also the matter of young Harry’s financial situation, The Baudelles were a very rich family and Violette’s share was now Harry’s. His surviving grand-daughter, Petunia, was only a latent Veela and her husband was a muggle so they wouldn’t be eligible to the Baudelle trust fund, but Harry would certainly want his beloved aunt’s future to be comfortable and Michael Baudelle was happy enough with how everything had turned out to see to that. 

Mr. Baudelle was in a hurry to set things right, he was appalled with everything he had found out so far. Apparently the Dursleys were very poor. Young Harry didn’t even had decent clothes to wear and maybe not even enough to eat, judging by how thin the boy was in all his photos. To think that a member of his family could have been going through some rough times when the rest of the family had so much to spare was unconceivable. 

Yes, a lot to do but the boy deserved nothing but the best, thought Michael Baudelle with no small amount of pride, his grandchild was mated to a Malfoy, a good family with strong Veela roots, a very good match indeed. 

Hortencia watched her husband talking to yet another person over the floo. He looked fifty years younger now. Violette’s disappearance had hit him hard; Michael was a family man and not knowing the whereabouts of one of his children had been a nightmare he had never managed to put behind him. Finally knowing where she was, even if after her death, had brought a sense of closure to him and now they had a new submissive in the family. Michael was finally happy 

Violette’s Great-grandchild was a powerful wizard, a powerful Veela and, according to the Council, a completely pure submissive before his first claim. A rare fact nowadays when teenagers would kiss, if not more, anybody at the first chance they got.

The Baudelle matriarch had to admit she would have preferred it if the first claim had been validated by the Council, but it had all worked out well. Harry had been claimed by the same Dominant, so it could be said that he entered the bond completely pure. Now, all they had to do was invite the young couple to spend a few months with the family so they could properly get to know Violette’s great-grandson. The Malfoys would not be opposed to that, they knew how important family was. Yes, everything would work out in the end.

A knock on the door brought her back to reality. That should be the young Theodore Phillips now, coming to talk about their newly found family link. Hortencia was curious about how that would play out. She waited for Michael who was taking leave of their cousin Marcel, the family representative in the council, and opened the door to let Mr. Phillips in. Time to know what the other side of young Harry’s family had to say, with non-Veela you could never know.

\------- 

Theodore Phillips took a deep breath and entered the Baudelle’s quarters when a house-elf dressed in the Baudelle colors opened the door for him. 

“Good evening, Mr. Phillips, please come in,” said Hortencia gesturing regally.

“Good evening, Madame, Messieur” he greeted, kissing the submissive Veela’s hand politely before addressing the Dominant, “Pardon me for imposing, but I was wondering if you and your wife could spare a moment before dinner.” 

“Mr. Phillips, please have a seat. Would you like something to drink?” the older man waved at a side table where a bottle of brandy and some crystal glasses could be seen.

“Yes, thank you, sir.” 

There was a polite silence while the house-elf served the drinks and handed the glasses round before popping out of the room, giving the humans at least the illusion of privacy. There was no doubt that the little creature, even if not in the room, was close enough to answer the call of its masters. 

Hortencia noticed that the young man looked troubled and was holding a leather folder rather tightly in his hands and she felt her heart get heavy in her chest. Would the young man try to take Harry away from them? No, it couldn’t be it. There was certainly something wrong but she couldn’t put her finger on it yet. Still, she prepared herself for any unpleasant surprises and kept her wand handy… just in case. 

Silently, she looked over to her husband and with a knowledge that comes with years of life together, they decided what to do. 

“You seemed troubled, Mr. Phillips, may I ask what seems to be the matter?” asked Hortencia with a calm voice. 

Theodore was not fooled. He had seen the look the older couple had exchanged between them and knew that Mrs. Baudelle was the one asking just because they had agree that is was the best course of action. The younger generation always bought the “we are safe and caring” façade much easier if presented by a mother figure. He was perfectly aware of that, but it didn’t make the rest of the conversation any easier.

“I have just finished reading the files on our young relative…” Theodore paused, lost on how much he could tell the couple in front of him, how much was private to his family and how to break the news on what he had found out, “allow me to take the long way around. Please understand that under any other circumstances we would take care of it within the family, but it so happens it concerns your family too…” 

“Mr. Phillips,” Michael decided to intervene before the younger man lost himself, “as far as young Harry is concern we are family. Whatever it is that you have in that folder of your, we will deal with it, but you have to tell us what is the matter.”

“Yes… Well…” Theodore took a deep breath and opened the file, “as you are aware, Daisy Mihailov, daughter of Andrei and Violette, married Richard Evans, a squib cousin of mine.”

The Baudelles just nodded, allowing the young man to proceed. 

“The Phillips have a tradition of taking care of every member of the family, even the squibs. We set up a trust fund for each member but the amount of money differs according to a number of circumstances. A wizard will receive a large amount to get started in life, a witch a bit less since she will be taken in by the family she marries into and a squib will get even less, since they will probably settle in the muggle world and life there is not as expensive.” 

The older couple nodded in agreement, that was not an unusual arrangement in a wizarding family.

“Well, Richard didn’t agree with that; he was quite vocal about it as a matter of fact. You see, if he was to receive the same amount as a wizard, he would never have to work a day in his life and he thought he deserved that. I’m sorry to say that he squandered away your grand-daughter’s inheritance from her parents trying to maintain the life style he thought he deserved. Needles to say, the family was not pleased with him. We value work and individual achievement, even with the trust fund our magical relatives always managed to stand in their own two feet, but that never set right with Richard.” 

Michael held Hortencia’s hand during the explanation. It was not easy to hear of problems their grand-daughter had faced, even if it was decades ago.

“Finally, it came to the point where a confrontation was inevitable. Richard’s demands reached an all time high and… to be honest, they were invited to leave the manor. They did, Richard, Daisy, Lily, who wasn’t even two at the time, and Petunia, who was eight or nine. You see, we were almost certain Petunia was a squib too and Lily was just too young for anybody to tell, but we thought she was one too. I mean… what are the odds…”

“Mr. Phillips… Theodore…” Hortencia took the younger man’s hand in hers, “we understand… perhaps more than anybody else in the world right now, we know how a family problem can be blown out of proportion. It’s not your fault that Lily went by unnoticed…” 

“Oh, no,” Theodore snapped his head up to look at the older couple, “that is not the problem. We did lose contact with them for a few years, but we got in touch again less than twenty years ago. That is what I’m trying to tell you. Petunia never told us about Lily, she lied to us and from what I can tell nobody told Lily about us either, and not only did she never tell Harry about us, but apparently she mistreated him his whole life.” 

“What?” Michael was suddenly on his feet. 

“Here, let me show you.” Said Theodore opening the file in his hands, taking a few documents out and spreading them on the small coffee table in front of him. Making his mind up, he picked up the contract signed by the Durleys, that was perhaps the best place to start the explanation.

Sometime later, the sound of the dinner bell found the three of them deeply in discussion about what to do next. Officially the Malfoys would only be family in the morning, when the new couple would be publicly acknowledged and even afterwards, whatever offence had occurred, it had happened before the bond. 

“Whatever we decide to do, it will be done after dinner.” Hortencia decided getting up from the couch. 

“But…” Theodore started to protest but was cut off before he could actually say anything. 

“No, dear,” said Hortencia, “we are expected at dinner and it would raise too many questions if we missed. This is a family matter and it will be kept in the family.”

“Yes, of course.” The younger man agreed. The offence had not been done today, it had happen over a long period of time, it could wait another day or so. 

“First thing after dinner,” added Michael holding the door for his wife, “we’ll call our lawyers. I believe some measure of legality is in order.” And they proceeded to the dining room talking about amenities and greeting the other guests present at the school.


	20. Chapter 20

**Author’s note:**

Locked in the house. 

Long story short, I lost my keys and only two days later noticed they were missing. I’m got stuck at home until my husband came back from work that night with a brand new copy for me. 

I can still hear him laughing over the phone when I had to explain to him why ‘we’ needed a new copy of keys to the front door… he said he is calling me ‘Dory’ from now on (the little blue she-fish with no memory from Disney’s ‘Nemo’).

Also, my mother board decided that she had worked for too long and quit on me and book 07 came along… oh! All the nice little excuses I can use not to tell you how lazy I am. Sorry about the delay. 

Thank you for all the reviews, especially for all the questions that made me think about aspects of the fic I hadn’t.

\-------- 

**Chapter 20**

**_Excerpt from chapter 19 –_**

Sometime later, the sound of the dinner bell found the three of them deeply in discussion of what to do next. Officially the Malfoys would only be family in the morning, when the new couple would be public acknowledged and even afterwards, whatever offense was done, it had happened before the bond. 

“Whatever we decide to do, it will be done after dinner.” Hortencia decided getting up from the couch. 

“But…” Theodore started to protest but was cut off before he could actually say anything. 

“No, dear,” said Hortencia, “we are expected at dinner and it would raise too many questions if we missed. This is a family matter and it will be kept in the family.” 

“Yes, of course.” The younger man agreed. The offense had not been done today, it had happen over a long period of time, it could wait another day or so for retribution. 

“First thing after dinner,” added Michael holding the door for his wife, “we’ll call our lawyers. I believe some measure of legality is in order.” And they proceeded to the dining room talking about amenities and greeting the other guests present at the school.

\------- 

The three of them reached the dining room after a short walk through the stony halls and sat themselves at the same table the Malfoys were already occupying. 

Theodore noticed that nobody said a word about the young couple and no marriage plans were discussed. Noticing his confusion, Hortencia explained that, as tradition dictated, they would only be recognized as a couple upon leaving the bonding ground, until then the new family link between them was still unofficial. Planning and negotiations would only start the following day after breakfast, and in private, when they would go over the details of the wedding and any settlements. 

After dinner, they all made their excuses. It was clear that the Malfoys would be contacting their lawyers as well. It was one thing to deal with a boy with no Veela family; to join three very powerful families together was a completely different matter. 

Theodore went back to the Baudelle’s room where a few floo calls were placed to their respective lawyers; it was decided that they would arrive in the early hours of the morning, before breakfast. If they waited until afterwards the Malfoys would be officially linked to their families and they would have to expose the delicate matter of Petunia’s actions; not a good way to start a new alliance.

\------- 

Sometime during the night, Harry stirred in the large bed feeling something was missing. He felt cold under the covers but couldn’t understand why. A muffled noise made him open his eyes. Draco was moving around in the tent, completely ignoring the fact that he was naked as the day he was born. 

“Hey,” he called softly. 

“Hey,” Draco answered, “sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.” 

“What are you doing? I’m cold, come back to bed.” Harry complained dozily. 

“Our food has just arrived. I was preparing something for you.” Draco told him approaching the bed with a couple of plates in his hands. 

The mention of food got Harry fully awake. His last meal had been a light sandwich before coming to the tent that morning and with all the activity during the day he was famished. They ate in silence for a while, too hungry to think about anything else for the moment. 

“How come we never received any of this the first time?” Harry asked, only half curious after finishing his sandwich and plopping a couple of grapes in his mouth before stealing half of the sandwich Draco had prepared for himself. Draco could only smile amused by his sandwich stealing mate. 

“The first time we ended up outside the designated area. I don’t think they had made any plans for something like that happening.” The blond answered pouring the two of them some wine, “it’s your turn to make a sandwich,” he added. 

“Hey, what happen to the tradition of providing to ones' submissive?” Harry teased. 

“You forfeited that one when you stole my sandwich, prat.” Draco took another bite before getting a thoughtful look on his face, “I didn’t think you would invoke that tradition, being Gryffindorish and all.” 

“I had no idea something like that actually existed,” Harry shrugged, “I was only trying to see if I could make you get the food again.” 

“Why, you … you…” Draco hurling a pillow at his mate, “Go get me my food, prat”. 

Harry laughed and searched for his robes around the bed. Draco could prance around naked all he wanted, but Harry was not so comfortable about it. He pulled on the diaphanous robe, deciding to ignore that it wasn’t actually concealing all that much to begin with and began to examine the different types of bread and cold cuts available. Draco took a moment to look at his mate’s body and felt a wave of pride rush over him at the sight of the recently reinforced claiming mark on his mate’s neck. 

“Do we have to do anything in particular?” Harry asked climbing back on the bed and setting the dish between him and Draco. 

“Is there anything in particular you would like to do?” Draco wiggled his eyebrows making very clear to his mate what kind of things he thought they could be doing. 

“Not that,” Harry hurried to explain blushing, “I mean, that is nice and… and… Draco! You know that is not what I meant!” 

“Sorry, Harry,” but the blond didn’t sound all that sorry, “what did you mean?” 

“Inform somebody, call somebody… I don’t know, let them know… something.” 

“Articulate as always,” Draco joked. “No, they already know all they need to. They know we are here, together and will come for us in the morning. There is nothing to worry about.” 

“Don’t say that” Harry hissed. 

“What?” said the blond really confused by his mates reaction. 

“There is nothing to worry about,” Harry explained, “every time somebody says that something happens to prove that we did have something we should have been worrying about.” 

“Harry,” Draco was almost falling on the floor laughing, “are you trying to tell me that you are superstitious?” 

“NO… Not superstitious. Just… careful.” 

“Careful? A text book example of a Gryffindor?” Draco decided that he wouldn’t even try to rein in his urge to tease his mate about this, “Oh, come on. You can’t be serious about this one. Besides, that phrase is not really a bad omen, you know. Now, if I had said…” 

“Don’t say it,” Harry pounced on his mate trying to cover the blonde’s mouth with his hands, “don’t you dare say it.” 

“Oh, come on, what could possibly go wrong?” This time Draco didn’t move fast enough to escape from his mate and they ended up on the floor when the Gryffindor pounced again. Draco managed to twist them around so that Harry was laying beneath him being tickled merciless. 

Harry got his legs around the dominant and twisted his body until Draco was the on the bottom and he was sitting on top of his mate. They were both out of breath and still laughing when Harry decided that they had talked enough and bent down to kiss his mate. They never made it back to bed and all omens, bad or otherwise, were forgotten.

\------- 

Theodore woke up to a soft popping sound. The sunlight was already filtering through the windows but he could tell it was still very early. He tried to understand what exactly had awakened him when he heard a faint noise from somewhere in the bedroom, he turned his head and came face to face with the strangest house elf he had ever seen in his life. The creature had mismatched socks, an orange Twisted Sister t-shirt and more hats than Theodore though was possible to be owned by a single creature, let alone worn at the same time. 

“Good morning, Master uncle” said the creature, “I is Dobby. Master Dumbeedoor says Master uncle’s lawyers are waiting for him in headmaster’s office. Master uncle can have his meeting there.” 

“Master Uncle?” asked Theodore blinking and trying to understand what the hyper creature was saying. 

“You is Master Harry Potter sir’s uncle. Dobby is happy to serve Master Uncle too. Master Harry Potter sir is the bestest wizard ever, he is. He freed Dobby from bad Master and now Dobby is free elf.” Dobby gave the astounded wizard a blinding smile before popping away. 

“I’m still sleeping, that must be it, not fully awake yet. Yes, that makes sense.” Theodore mumbled while getting up and going to the bathroom to get ready for a meeting with his lawyer in Dumbledore’s office… if he understood the message right. 

Twenty minutes later he knocked on the Headmaster’s door and gained entrance to the room to find it was already full of people. The Baudelles were there with a stranger that Theodore could only guess was their lawyer. Paul and Rhys, two of his cousins that took care of the legal matters for the family were there as well. 

Dumbledore was sitting in a large and colorful armchair next to the couch where the Baudelles were sitting rather than in the imposing chair behind his desk. 

“Ah, good morning, Mr. Phillips,” the Headmaster greeted him as he entered the room, “Michael and Hortencia were just telling me about some of the facts that you uncovered in your research on Mr. Potter’s life.” “Yes, Mr. Dumbledore,” Theodore was pleased at the up front manner in which problem was been discussed, but he had no idea why the Headmaster, who was not a family member, was being included in this conversation, “I did stumble onto a few unsettling details, but, if you pardon my rudeness, I was under the impression that this was a family matter and no outsiders were to be included,” he asked looking directly at the Baudelle couple. 

“That would be my doing,” answered the stranger sitting closest to Michael Baudelle, “After my client flooed me last night I did some checking. The person responsible for placing Mr. Potter with his aunt and for any contacts between Mr. Potter and the Wizarding World was one Mr. Albus Dumbledore. We were merely inquiring of him about how this came to pass since he is not with the Children’s Affairs Committee at the Ministry.” 

“You are just in time, Mr. Phillips, to hear my explanation,” offered Dumbledore indicating a vacant armchair. 

Theodore sat down and nodded to the Headmaster, indicating that he was ready to listen. A house elf, not the same one that had woken him earlier that morning, served him a cup of tea. 

“We still have some time before the boys are due for breakfast so I’ll try to be brief. We should try to resolve whatever problems you have with Mr. Potter’s past before breakfast and before the Malfoy's become a part of Mr. Potter’s family; much as I admire them, they do have a rather unforgiving way of settling any perceived offense to their family. I believe Mr. Potter would prefer to avoid unnecessary blood shed,” said Dumbledore. 

Theodore noticed the look exchanged between Michael Baudelle and his lawyer and all of the sudden he wasn’t sure if the blood shed was not in the ‘to do’ list already. Worse yet, he noticed that he didn’t exactly care if something… "unfortunate" would happen to his wayward cousin Petunia and her husband. Not a nice realization for a man who prided himself as a family man. 

“During the first rise of Voldemort, I put together a group of very brave people. Our goal was to fight him any way we could. James and Lily Potter were members of that group. They dedicated their lives to the protection of the innocent and fought fiercely… and ultimately, they were murdered for it.” Dumbledore noticed the look of astonishment on everybody's face and continued, “Oh, there is more to the history, but for that we will need Mr. Potter with us, as some details concern him specifically and I’m not at liberty to reveal them.” 

“But that doesn’t explain…” Rhys started feeling that there was more than ‘some details’ being left unsaid. 

“They were family,” interrupted Dumbledore, “We all were. Our little group saw ourselves as a family… and I felt responsible. When any of our numbers were killed I would do all I could for their remaining family and that included taking care of what would happen to Harry. Unfortunately, his relatives turned out to be a less than desirable choice.” 

“You must understand, Headmaster” said Paul Phillips, “it seems very strange that nobody checked on the boy and his living conditions. His own school files show that the school nurse was aware of malnourishment and badly mended bones from before he was 11…” 

“Mr. Phillips,” Dumbledore interrupted looking sad, “please understand the special circumstances surrounding this case. When James and Lily were killed we didn’t know about any other relatives and we didn’t have the luxury of waiting around to see if any would show up.” 

The Headmaster held his hand up indicating to the other people in the room that he was not done talking. 

“I have no doubt that half of the Wizarding world, at the very least, would have shown up on my door step begging for the chance to raise Harry, but did you consider exactly who would be showing up? Undoubtedly a lot of good hearted people, grateful for the dismissal of the Dark Lord, who would have done their best by him, but they could not have effectively protected him against a Death Eater wanting revenge. Some would have been ill intended people seeking the fame of being the ones raising him, and they would have raised him to be a media puppet...they would all have probably spoiled Harry and turned him into a little Wizarding Prince simply because he was ‘the-boy-who-lived’, and once again, not been able to protect him. In either case, he would never be simply Harry, something that he desires with all his heart. And let’s not forget the possibility that some of those people might have been Death Eaters themselves or unmarked supporters of the Dark Lord presenting a nice enough front to pass the Ministry scrutiny but only waiting for the chance to get revenge on Harry for what he had done… and who would chose who had the right to raise the boy? I’m certain that the Ministry would have demanded to be the one to do it, as it is the law… Harry would have been turned into a tool, a symbol to be waved around in front of a dazzled audience and used for whatever purpose they saw fit.” 

Dumbledore sighed, the events of that night coming back to his memory. 

“And on the other hand, there were the Dursleys. Muggles? Yes. Perhaps not the best choice? Definitely. But one nobody would be able to say a thing against. So, Harry went to live with his blood relatives… Call me naive, but I honestly believed they would take good care of him, and I really had no other choice. Anybody else would raise questions by… well, everybody and Harry would be taken away from whatever home we had placed him in and relocated by the Ministry.” 

The others could see the logic of his arguments; it would have happened exactly as he was saying. 

“I did place a woman, Mrs. Figg, in the same neighborhood. She was to watch out for any signs of Death Eaters or any other problems in the area. She was perfect because not only was she is a squib, who knew about our world but also was able to live in the muggle world, but she is also an old lady who could sit in her house the whole day and not draw attention. Unfortunately, that also means that she is not inclined to go walking around the neighborhood or go ‘snooping’ around the Dursleys house. She missed the not so visible signs of Harry’s situation and by the time we found out what was really going on, there was very little that we could do. How could we legally remove him from his relatives’ house? Any attempt to try and find him a new home would put him in the same danger as before; the Ministry would interfere and the highest bidder would get to take him home, we simply couldn’t expose him to that much risk. For the same reason, we couldn’t send people to check on him. Many of us were still under surveillance by the Ministry or by dark wizards, all waiting for the chance to get to Harry.” 

Dumbledore took a sip of his tea and sighed again, he seemed almost relieved to share his story. 

“By the time Harry finally got to Hogwarts I knew that his situation was not ideal, but at least he was alive, he was capable of standing on his own two feet and didn’t expect to be treated any differently from anybody else, so I counted my blessings. My hands were tied, leaving Harry at his aunt’s made the situation permanent unless we were willing to risk not knowing where Harry would end up. With the muggles we at least had some measure of control.” 

“Control?” Theodore could understand part of Dumbledore’s arguments. He could remember the euphoria over the defeat of the Dark Lord. He could think of at least five families that would have come to blows over the possibility of raising the savior of the Wizarding World, but that didn’t mean he had to simply accept what the old man had done, “What kind of control could you possibly have over them?” 

“I made sure they took Harry in when I left him there,” answered Dumbledore, “I made sure they knew we were watching. They may have neglected Harry, underfed him, overtaxed him with chores and dressed him poorly, but he was never hit. It never got physical. He had a roof over his head and the safety provided by the blood wards I erected based on his mother’s sacrifice. It was not ideal, I give you that, it was far from it as a matter of fact, but think of the alternatives. Consider what could have happened if we had done otherwise. I’m horrified with the life he had, but he is alive! He may come to hate me for the rest of his life, but I took the only safe rout there was to make sure he would be alive to do so.” 

Hortencia watched as distress poured out of her old friend. He really cared about the boy and he was sorry… maybe even ashamed of his choice, but he was right, back then the boy had no one else. Petunia Dursley and her husband were the only ones. 

“It’s alright, Albus,” Hortencia offered patting his hand, “we understand. Thank you for doing your best for Harry. Now it’s our turn.” 

“Thank you,” Dumbledore felt as if a thousand bricks had been removed from his shoulders, he still felt sorry for the life Harry had led so far but at least now he had said it out loud and shared the reasons behind his actions that fateful night so long ago. “Have you given any thought to what should be done about the Dursleys? I must warn you, Harry won’t be too accepting of revenge. He is too forgiving for that.” 

“It’s the submissive nature,” Michael pondered, “He will protect his family from outsiders even when the family has hurt him. Don’t worry, we will make sure we act within the limits of what he would feel comfortable with if he ever comes to find out about it.” 

“No, no, no,” Dumbledore hurried to explain, “don’t make the same mistake I made. I tried to keep things from Harry. I tried to gain some time and let him mature enough before exposing some facts to him and it backfired on me somewhat horribly. He doesn’t deal well with that. Be up front about it and don’t sugar coat it. Harry has a good head on his shoulders and he's not a child, something I failed to realize until it was too late. Tell him what you intend to do and why, make sure he understands. Listen to an old man who has committed this very same mistake, do not keep Harry in the dark about something that has anything to do with his life.” 

The room became suddenly silent as every one of them considered the headmaster’s words. Rhys looked at his pocket watch and decided to hurry things along. Theodore could have kissed him for that, Rhys was always the practical one. 

“Well, I suggest thinking about that one detail later; right now we have to decide what to do about the Dursleys. In 10 minutes time the bell will ring for breakfast and not long after that the Malfoys will be part of Mr. Potter’s family.” 

“Yes, I’m afraid that is correct,” Dumbledore agreed, “time is running short.” 

“Well, since we all agree on that. Here is what I propose,” said Rhys taking charge of the meeting, “We have a signed contract with Petunia for the house and the family loan. Since we have proof that she indeed breeched the contract, we will go ahead and demand the house and the money back.” 

“Both?” asked Theodore. He wanted some form of revenge against his cousin but she was still family and he felt uncomfortable thinking about a family member without shelter or means to support themselves. 

“From what I heard, Mr. Potter will object to any measures we take against his aunt. He is a Phillips after all and we all know how we feel about family.” Rhys started to explain, “if we demand both, we can compromise with Mr. Potter later and ‘allow’ Petunia to retain the house. We get what we want and Mr. Potter won’t have to feel bad about it.” 

“That is an excellent idea,” Mr. Baudelle agreed exchanging a look with his lawyer, “perhaps we could come up with something like this ourselves. I’m sure we can find something to compromise about with our great-grandson.” 

“Yes,” agreed Dumbledore with his eyes twinkling at full force, “that would be most acceptable.”

\------- 

Harry slowly woke up hearing soft muffled voices. Not that it made any difference in his mood; he was still annoyed that something had awakened him. He was comfortable, warm and safe. Why did he have to wake up at all? 

“Can you see them?” he heard a muffled voice ask. 

“No. Maybe they are in the woods outside?” another voice answered with a note of worry in it but equally muffled. 

“You don’t think…” one of them started sounding unsure, “I mean what if the dominant hurt him?” 

“Should we contact the Council?” 

“Not yet,” the first one decided, “we should try and find them first. If it takes us more than 15 minutes we call for help.” 

By then Harry was awake enough to notice three things. First, there were two young men with fancy robes looking around the tent, but they didn’t feel like dominants or Death Eaters to him. Two, he was still on the floor and effectively hidden by a still sleeping Draco, tons of pillows and a large comforter, in that order, and their whole ‘nest’ was propped up against the side of the bed, which made them virtually invisible to the two, now very worried, young men. And finally three, and that was his favorite so far, if he remained very still, they wouldn’t see him and probably go look for him outside, which meant he could go back to sleep for a while longer. 

A strong arm encircled him pulling him backwards into his mate’s chest. So much for a still sleeping Draco. 

“Morning, love,” Draco whispered in his ear, quietly enough to not attract the attention of the two strangers looking for them, and sending shivers down Harry’s spine. 

“Morning,” Harry wriggled about a bit getting more comfortable in the pile of pillows and blankets, “they are looking for us.” 

“Let them look,” Harry could feel the smirk on his mate’s lips, “we can sleep a few more minutes.” 

Harry liked that plan very much, but unfortunately he never found out if it would have worked or not, because at that precise moment two more voices joined the conversation. 

“Good morning, gentlemen,” said an unknown male voice. A dominant, judging by the tone he used. 

“Good morning, gentlemen,” Mme. Pomphrey said in her usual non-nonsense tone, “are the two young men ready for me?” 

“We couldn’t find them, Madame Healer.” One of the young men said. 

“Their scent is all over the place,” the other one added, “but we have no idea where they could be...” 

“Enough now, honestly, are you both so busy being Veela that you forgot to be a wizard, gentlemen?” Pomphrey interrupted the men taking her wand out of the front pocket of her immaculate apron, “point me Harry Potter.” 

Harry sighed; his chance to sleep a few more minutes was as good as gone now and judging by Draco’s annoyed groan he felt the same way. The blanket above their heads moved and an amused Poppy Pomphrey peeked at them. 

“Good morning, gentlemen,” she greeted, “if you would please get up, I have to perform a few tests now and it would be very hard to do so with both of you half way under the bed.” 

Harry tried to get up only to be pulled back by Draco, who was now openly growling at the third man in the tent. The one who had arrived with Mme. Pomphrey. Harry blinked surprised with his mate’s attitude, but the man seemed to accept it as if it was exactly what he had expected to happen. 

“I’ll be waiting outside, madam. Take as long as you need.” He said politely before stepping out of the tent. 

“We are terribly sorry, Mister Malfoy,” apologized one of the young men, “we should have told him to wait outside the minute he arrived, but we were afraid the two of you had decide to stay in the woods and thought we would need his help locating you.” 

“It’s understandable,” Draco said getting up and offering a hand to Harry, “but make sure no one else enters here until my mate is properly covered.” 

“Of course, sir, if you'll excuse us,” both young men gave a slight bow and laying the robes they had been carrying all this time on the bed, joined the other man outside. Harry noticed that the new robes were similar to the ones he and Draco had worn after their first time together. Funnily enough, this time he was not nervous with the up-coming, very public breakfast they would have to endure. 

Mme. Pomphrey made fast work of Draco’s bruises and cuts, proclaiming him fit enough to get dressed, before getting started on Harry. Everything went along pretty much like the first time around, until the very last scan, which brought a large smile to the medi-witch’s face. 

“Oh, my,” she performed the test again just to make sure, “congratulations, gentlemen, it seems your bonding was a tad more productive this time around.” 

Harry blinked slowly, not fully understanding the meaning of the medi-witch’s words, but Draco had no problem whatsoever. In two long steps he had crossed the tent and was kneeling near Harry with an awed expression on his face. 

“Are you sure, Mme?" 

“Of course, Mister Malfoy,” she answered with a smile, “I’ve tested twice to confirm it. You are going to be parents in a few months time. May I call your escort now?” 

“Yes, Mme. Please,” Draco replied without really paying any attention to the woman. He helped a very shocked Harry to his feet and hugged him, “We are going to have a baby, Harry.” 

“Baby?” Harry was positive they were speaking in a foreign language that made very little sense to him until bit by bit his brain decided to start working again, “a baby? Me? Here?” he asked pointing at his own body. 

“Yes, love, there is a baby in there. Our baby, our family,” Draco was almost laughing at his mate’s expression and thanked Merlin it was only surprise he was showing; the last thing he wanted was to have to calm someone as powerful as his mate down. 

“We are a family…” Harry said softly running his hand over his flat stomach, there was no sign of a baby yet, but he felt suddenly very different now that he knew about it. 

They barely registered the fact that Mme. Pomphrey had stepped out of the tent and sent the two young men back inside. Only when the strangers cleared their throats did they notice their presence. 

Harry and Draco were washed, dressed and had their hair combed before they were allowed to leave the tent, the two young men following two steps behind them whole time. The four of them entered the castle together and were greeted by, apparently, every single member of the High Veela Council at the entrance hall. Harry could feel Draco tensing up and wondered what that was all about. 

“Mister Malfoy,” the Council member at the center of their circle took a step forward, “greetings on this joyful occasion.” 

“May our happiness be shared with the clan,” Draco bowed his head slightly. It all sounded very formal and rehearsed and Harry decided it was another Veela ceremony he knew nothing about, but when Draco moved to pass the council, the elder Veela held up his hand stopping him. 

“May we inquire something of your mate?” he asked in a polite tone, but his face was serious. 

Draco gently pushed Harry in front of him, but never removed his hand from his mate’s back. 

“Mister Potter, we are happy to have found a lost child of the Veela and welcome you into our families,” he addressed Harry in person for the first time. 

“Thank you, sir,” Harry could only hope that was the proper answer and cringed thinking about all the things he would have to learn. 

“May we inquire; was your choice made freely? Is that your chosen mate?” seeing the confused look on Harry’s face the older man explained himself, “your first bonding took us all by surprise and it was most unconventional. That was the reason for our demanding a second bonding once the opportunity presented itself and that is why we ask of you now, knowing that you may be free from this bond and protected by the council until you find a dominant that you believe can make you happy, do you wish to remain bonded to Mr. Malfoy?” 

_‘Oh’_ thought Harry, _‘the protection of the submissives! They are worried about me being forced by the Malfoys._ ’ 

“I’m very happy with my bonding, sir.” Harry felt Draco’s hand relax on his back but that was the only sign the blond gave of how nervous he had been, “I chose Draco yesterday and I wanted him to find me before anybody else.” 

“In that case, child,” said the man giving Harry a large smile, “I believe your families are waiting for you to join them for breakfast.” 

The two groups bowed their heads to each other and continued on their way together to join their families. Draco’s hand found Harry’s and squeezed it softly indicating that everything would be alright. 

As the double door to the breakfast room opened, Harry took a deep breath and straightened his back. He could do this, he had done it before and he could do it again. There was really nothing to it, just breakfast with the Malfoys and Mrs. Weasley. Nothing to worry about. 

The doors were finally open and the whole room turned to look at them, but for the first time in his life, Harry was not paying any attention to anybody else. In the center of the room, at the largest table available, the Malfoys and Mrs. Weasley were sitting and waiting for them… with three other people Harry had never seen in his life. 

_‘I believe your families are waiting for you to join them for breakfast,’_ the Head of the Council’s words sounded in Harry’s mind right before another voice took over, _‘Oh, come on, what could possibly go wrong? There is nothing to worry about.’_

Harry looked over at Draco’s confused face as he spotted the strangers sitting at their table. 

Yes, it was a surprise for him too. It could only mean one thing, his mate had jinxed them the night before and he was so going to get a piece of Harry’s mind for it.

\-------


	21. Chapter 21

**Author’s note:**  
This has been the worse chapter to write so far. I simply had no idea how to introduce Harry to his new family with everything that was supposed to happen on the same day (breakfast, contract, wedding, reception, nosy reporters…). Bottom line is I’m not happy with this chapter and one day I’ll try and fix it, but it has taken too long already, so on with the fic!

**AND…** I know it has been too long. I’m sorry, but the combined effect of a major writer’s block and a lot to do in real life had me running blind for a while. Just remember **none of my fics are abandoned.**

xxxxxxx 

**The Baudelle Family.**

A few people asked me about the family tree and I’m not so sure I answered them all. So, here it is.

Harry’s Veela Family:

1) Michael - Hortencia

2)Margueritte, Rosely and Violette (Andrei Mihailov)

3) Daisy (Richard Evans - Phillips Family)

4a) Petunia (Vernon Dursley - husband and Dudley Dursley - son)

4b) Lily (James Potter - husband and Harry J. Potter - Son)

5) Harry (Draco Malfoy - husband and baby)

xxxxxxxx   
**Chapter 21**

“Draco, who are they?” Harry whispered to the blond at his side while they waited for the Council members to enter the breakfast room. 

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen them before.” Draco answered frowning. _Who were those people?_ And offering his arm to Harry, he asked, “Shall we find out? Oh, we have to complete a few formalities this morning, nothing to worry about, let me do the talking and take your cues from me. Everything will work out just fine.”

“Sure,” agreed Harry still uneasy of how to act in front of so many Veela and added before he could get a hold of his mouth, “What could possibly go wrong?”

Draco had to use his entire social training no to laugh in front of that room full of people.

The room was quiet waiting for the young couple to be announced. Many Dominants were still spotting large bruises and were discretely kept away from the couple’s path by their families. Nobody was willing to challenge an established claim again, especially after the strange display of power the day before.

Much like the first time, Harry and Draco entered the room and were greeted by a few people on the way, but nobody made an attempt to halt them. Once they reached their table, Lucius Malfoy and the two other men got up and formally said good morning to Draco, who in turn returned their greetings and them greeted the ladies at the table before introducing Harry. 

“Good morning, Draco Malfoy,” stated Lucius rather ceremoniously, “may be a good dawn for your house.”

“Good morning, Lord Malfoy,” the two other men offered, “may be a good dawn for your house.”

“Father, gentlemen, may the sun continue to shine on yours,” Draco replied before turning to the women, “Ladies, you honor us with your presence. May I introduce my bonded mate, Harry James Potter.”

“Good morning, may your bond be long and happy,” was the formal reply. After that they were sited and breakfast was served. Leaning over to Mrs. Weasley, who was thankfully sited by his side, Harry asked something that was bothering him ever since the doors were opened. 

“Mrs. Weasley, who are they?” Harry said in a whisper. 

“Oh, Harry, so much has happened in the last few days…” the red haired woman could barely contain her enthusiasm, “the Veela Council has found out where your Veela genes come from.” Looking around she noticed all the eyes on their table, “it’s not the time right now, right after breakfast we will tell you all about it.”

Harry could tell they were the very center of attention and did his best to contain himself. _‘Family, my family,_ ’ he thought looking over to the smiling people on the other side of the table. They seamed nice enough, but why didn’t they ever come forwards before? Why didn’t they do something about his life when he was a child? Breakfast could not end soon enough. 

Unfortunately, the rest of the world seemed to have different opinion on that matter. As soon as it was politely acceptable a long stream of well wishers made sure to come by the table and greet them making breakfast extent to an unbelievable amount of time. 

Finally, the eldest man, Michael Baudelle if Harry remembered correctly, got up and addressed Lucius Malfoy in a loud enough voice to be heard by the whole room while still being polite about it. 

“Mr. Malfoy, we must take our leave now. Our family will need a few moments alone in order to get to know each other. Perhaps you would agree to meet in our rooms for lunch and discuss the finer details of the contract?”

“It would be my pleasure, Mr. Baudelle,” Lucius agreed. The whole table got up and proceeded to the doors. While not strictly protocol, leaving early was acceptable under the unusual circumstances in this match, a recently reunited family was expected to spend some time together and they would have very little of it with the wedding being on the same day and all. 

Pausing briefly outside the doors, Draco draw Harry close and kissed him. “Go with your family, love, I think you have a lot to talk about. We will see each other at lunch to talk about the wedding.”

“Oh, ok” Harry agreed with a strange weigh on his chest, he didn’t want to be apart from Draco. It had taken them so long to be together that it seemed unfair that they had to be apart now, but on the other hand finally getting a family of his own and not knowing anything about them was driving him insane.

“Don’t worry,” the blond said kissing him again, “We will be together soon, I promise.” Harry could only nod as Mrs. Weasley gently led him up the stairs to their rooms near the Gryffindor’s dormitory while Draco joined his parents and walked down the hallway that led to their quarters. 

\------- 

**Harry’s quarters.**

Harry sat in the couch with Mrs. Weasley and looked around the room. These people seemed nice enough but years with the Dursleys made him feel a bit uneasy around ‘family’, what if they felt he was not good enough, like the Dursleys did. Would he be forever stuck in between worlds? Not wizard enough just like the Dursleys said he was not normal enough to live around decent people.

From where he was sitting he could see Sirius in dog form partially hiding behind some curtains and took comfort in the fact that at least his godfather and Mrs. Weasley would be there for him.

“Well,” said Mrs. Weasley after a short uncomfortable silence, “it is a great pleasure to have you all here. Isn’t it dear?” she offered patting Harry’s hand gently. 

“Yes,” Harry hurried to agreed, not sure how to go about meeting the fancy dressed people in front of him, “It’s… nice.”

“It’s very nice to finally meet you too, Harry,” said Mme. Baudelle, the only woman in the group. From what Harry was able to understand, she was sort of his grandmother, on her mother’s side. Since when were the Evans wizards? 

“How exactly are we related then?” Harry asked a bit hesitantly. 

“Oh, dear. Now that is a bit of a long story isn’t it?” Mme. Baudelle said. She brushed Harry’s bang out of his eyes and sighed, “you have Mihailov’s eyes. I must admit that he was a looker.”

“Mihailov?” Harry was confused, he had never heard that name before.

“Many years ago, when our daughter Violette, your great grand-mother, was about your age, she decided that she should have a bit of peace and quiet before her mating season. She was quite beautiful, you see, and a few Dominants were trying to convince her to mate before the engagement season had really started, but none of them caught her attention, they were only annoying her, so when she asked to be allowed to stay home instead of going back to school, we accepted. I guess you can say she was a bit spoiled, but she was our baby and we saw no harm on indulging her.”

The rest of the room was quiet, waiting to hear the rest of the story. Even Harry, who didn’t considered himself a very knowledgeable person when it came to reading other people, could tell by the looks shared by the older couple that is was a bitter sweet moment for them. Mme. Baudelle seemed pretty shaken by the memories; her husband took over the story telling.

“She stayed at home that year, but we didn’t want her to neglect her studies, so we hired tutors. That was how Andrei Mihailov came to live with us. He came highly recommended of course, a master in his field and all that. He wasn’t Veela and we saw no harm…” the older man took a deep breath, “they fell in love and he came to ask for her hand in marriage. There he was, this penniless nobody without a drop of Veela blood in his body, standing in front of me, telling me that they had fallen in love and wanted to get married. I said no, there was no way my perfect little angel would have fallen for him, he was delusional, mad… he was right and I was wrong. I told him to leave and never came back and I told Violette that we had arranged her marriage with the son of an old friend of the family. They had known each other since birth, I though love would come in time… the next day she was gone. Left us a note and that was it.”

“We were so mad,” Mme. Baudelle whispered softly, Harry barely heard her and she continued with a stronger voice, “we sent search parties after them, but as we said, he was a master in charms and they managed to get away. After that we decided that she was dead to us and refuse to acknowledge we even had a third daughter. It took us five years to realize that we were the ones who drove her away, she had found her mate but because he was not Veela, we refuse to accept it. It is very rare to mate with a non Veela, but it does happen. We decide to start searching for her again. We discovered that they had traveled as muggles so we focused our searches there, but by then the muggle world was in chaos, the World War, they called, it certainly claimed enough lives to seem that way. Records were lost, whole cities too, we could only hope that she was still alive.”

Even the air seemed to be standing still, Harry couldn’t even blink, afraid to lose a single word. Mme. Baudelle continued with her soft voice tinted by emotion.

“By the end of the war, we started to search again, years went by before we learned that they had left the continent even before the war had started. It was a feeble tread of information, but we held on to it. It was hope.” 

“Then a second World War came and this one had its Wizarding counterpart, Grindelwald caused more than his share of chaos in our world. Again, we lost records, family, friends…” Mr. Baudelle picked up when his wife couldn’t go on, “We did find out that Mihailov had taken them to London, but we were informed that he and his family had died during some sort of raid, something was dropped on his house apparently. They were living in the muggle world and we never knew up until now that most of the children had been taken out of the city. The Wizarding world was never officially evacuated and we live in France, so we never knew. We thought they were all dead and stopped looking.”

“So…” Harry asked, “They had children, but the children were not living with them at the time?”

“The muggles felt it was safer to send the children away.” The man who was clearly English spoke, “our family talked about it, but in the end we decide to stay. Our wards are pretty impressive, but no everyone was so lucky. ” 

“Yes,” Mr. Baudelle agreed, “from what the Record Keeper was able to find out, Mihailov and Violette sent little Daisy away and that was how she survived. After the war, the Wizarding World asked everybody, even the squibs, to come forward so they could try their best to reunite any families that had been affected by the war. Daisy was already 16 when the war was over, she volunteered at one of the posts for wizards and squibs who lived in London and that is how she met Richard Evan, who later became her husband.”

At that point he looked over to Theodore Phillips, who nodded and took over the story telling. 

“Richard was… not an easy person,” Theodore said hesitantly, how could he tell this child about all the dark feelings, the fights, the greed, Richard always brought with him to the house? Still, Harry was family and he had been denied of so much for so long because of the greed and bigotry of Richard, Petunia and Vernon. 

Making up his mind, Theodore told everything, little by little, measuring his words and being very careful with how he was exposing his young cousin to his family’s recent history. 

“I could have gone to you? I could have lived with you all this time and she d… she didn’t…” Harry broke down crying and was immediately hugged by Hortence while Molly kept running her hand through his hair trying to sooth him.

Sirius was seething, he could barely keep his animagus form, he wanted to pay a visit to the Dursleys and rearrange some of their facial features. 

“Harry,” Phillips called, “there is one more thing I should tell you now.”

“What is it?” Harry asked tiredly still leaning into his great-grand-mother’s embrace.

“I’m taking back all the money gifted to them and the house. They broke the contract and it is my right to do so, I’m not going to let the abuse of a family member go unpunished.”

“No, please,” Harry shook his head, “I just want to move on, I don’t want to remember them or worry that they are homeless or something. I just want to forget all about them and move on.”

Over Harry’s head, Michael Baudelle and Theodore Phillips exchanged a knowing glance, Harry’s reaction was exactly what they had expected. Michael laid a hand on Harry’s shoulder making the young man turn to look at him.

“How about we try to reach a compromise?” He said preparing to offer the deal they had discussed earlier.

As predicted, after some discussing, Harry accepted that both the Phillips and the Baudelles were entitled to some measure of revenge. The Phillips would take the money, but leave the house and the Baudelles would use some of their Veela powers to damage Petunia’s perfect little life… just a bit. 

Harry was pleased because he managed to avert most of the punishment planned for the Dursleys and the others were pleased because there would be punishment and even if it seemed as little at first, in the long run it’s effects would be felt for years to come... and Harry was unaware of that particular fact.

The group then started to get to know each other better. Harry was delighted to know how big his family was now and couldn’t wait to meet a few of his new found cousins.

While the newly found family sat around drinking tea and exchanging family stories, Sirius Black left his hiding place and decided to pay a little visit to Snape in the dungeons, as much as he disliked the man, it was the only way he could get access to the Malfoys quarters and he had important matters to discuss with his cousin and her husband. 

Harry seemed to be walking on clouds today. He was happily mated, expecting a child and surrounded by people that not only loved him and made sure he knew it, but was also related to him by blood. Harry was finally home and Sirius would be the last person to do anything to spoil that for him, that was why he had to leave. 

The Baudelles and the Phillips were all good people with good hearts and good souls. They would offer exactly the right measure of revenge to reassure Harry that he was loved and that they cared enough to do something about the people who had hurt him in the past without weighting him down with guilt, Sirius was cut from a different cloth and he intended to see that HIS standards were met, Harry would never know, he didn’t need to know, but the Dursleys would soon learn not to harm a cherished person of the house of Black. 

It was time to bring the Malfoys _and_ the marauders to the revenge business.

\------- 

**The unimaginable truce**

Severus Snape sat in his quarters nurturing a glass of firewhiskey. The past few days had been an extremely trying experience and he was surprised he was still in one piece.

“This farce is not yet over,” he spoke out loud in the empty room, “still plenty of chance to meet a sticky end.”

A knock on the door made him regretfully set his glass on the side table. He really hated the world right now. Couldn’t they wait just a few more hours before complicating even more his life?

Apparently not, Sirius Black stood in the dark hallway until Snape silently moved aside to let him in.

“What do you want, Black?” Snape asked tiredly, his days were getting longer and longer with this whole mating business.

“You know about Harry’s… home life.” It was not a question and Snape acknowledge that with a curt nod, “that is something that can’t simply be forgiven. I intend to see that justice is met.” 

“As noble aspiration as this might be, I fail to see how I can be of any assistance. You know I cannot provide you with any potions, I have no reason to involve myself in your quest.” 

“I need you help at getting to Narcissa and Lucius. I am a wanted man so I can’t simply walk up to their door as a man and I think a dog trotting by itself around the hallways will draw too much attention.”

“I still don’t understand why this is so important, Black,” Snape proud that he could at least pretend to be civil to the man in front of him, “certainly the boy’s family will take care of any retribution needed, and the Malfoys are not his family as of yet, strictly speaking.”

“Oh, no, Harry’s family has every intention of seeking retribution,” conceded Sirius, “on their own ‘light family’ way. The Phillips will take back some money and the Baudelles will make Petunia obsess about how presentable she and her house are.”

“I see,” muttered Snape, “I’m sure they consider that a suitable punishment.”

“They do and they understand that any more than that will upset Harry.”

“I still fail to see…”

“I’m a Black, Snape!” Sirius shouted, “Harry is my godson, their so called revenge is far too little, far too late. They are taking back the money, not even taking money away as a compensation, which would still be very mild in my opinion, they are taking some money back, money they gave to those muggles in the first place… and… and making Petunia obsess about how pretty her garden is? What sort of revenge is that?”

Snape couldn’t help but find it extremely amusing the show Black was putting on. The mutt was pacing back and forth and waving his arms around, but amusing as it was, Snape could see that Black was right. That was hardly acceptable as revenge. On the long run, perhaps, their revenge would take its toll. From everything he had learned about those muggles in particular, perceiving themselves as inadequate or below the ‘good’ standards of their pitiful society would slowly grate on their nerves and amount to something that could constitute as a suitable revenge, maybe, but then again there was something they could do to achieve the result a bit sooner. 

_‘Just a gentle push in the right direction’_ thought Snape starting to see the possibilities, _‘or maybe a very hard shove.’_

And Black is the boy’s godfather, it is his right to see that whatever wrong was done to the boy meet its fair retribution. If he wants to bring his cousin, who was also a Black, into it, it was also his right… the fact that the said cousin was now married to a Malfoy and that they would have reasons of their own to want to take part on the said retribution was a mere technicality, certainly any court in the world would see that… and since he was Draco’s godfather, it was his right to be in it was well. 

Yes, he decided, he could do with the stress relieve a good revenge would bring. 

“Let’s go, Black,” Snape waited for the other man to turn into his _animagus_ form before opening the door, “we have a family meeting to attend.”


End file.
